300.org

300.org - return atmosphere CO2 to 300 ppm CO2

300.org
exists to inform people about the worsening Climate Emergency, the worsening Climate Genocide and the urgent need to reduce
atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2 ) concentration to a safe and
sustainable level of about 300 ppm. It has a lengthy numerically- and alphabetically-organized compendium of numerous expert scientist and other science-informed opinions that atmospheric CO2 concentration must be reduced from the current dangerous and already extremely damaging 405 ppm CO2 (that is increasing at a record 3 ppm CO2 per year; 2016) to a safe and sustainable level of less than 350 ppm CO2 (which rounds down to 300 ppm CO2) and ideally to circa 300 ppm CO2 (scroll down to "Numerous expert opinions advocating a
return of the atmosphere to about 300 ppm CO2 ASAP").

The fundamental position of 300.org is that
“There must be a safe and sustainable existence for all peoples and all species
on our warming-threatened Planet and this requires a rapid reduction of
atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration to about 300 parts per million”.

300.org
urges the World to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration
(CO2) to about 300 parts per million by volume (ppmv or ppm for
short). In urging a target of an atmospheric CO2 concentration of 300
ppm, 300.org is informed by the advice of top world climate scientists as set
out in carefully researched and documented presentations on this site (see Sitemap).

Basically we know what the problem is (man-made GHG pollution) and how to
solve it. Fundamentally, as enunciated by 300.org, we need to reduce
atmospheric CO2 concentration to about 300 ppm for a safe planet for all
peoples and all species. [3].

To achieve 300 ppm CO2 and a safe
planet for all peoples and all species we must achieve the following:

1. Change of societal philosophy to one of
scientific risk management and biological sustainability with complete cessation of species extinctions and
zero tolerance for lying.

2. Urgent reduction of atmospheric CO2
to a safe level of about 300 ppm as
recommended by leading climate and biological scientists.

3. Rapid switch to the best non-carbon and renewable energy (solar,
wind, geothermal, wave, tide and hydro options that are currently roughly the
same market price as coal burning-based power) and to energy efficiency, public
transport, needs-based production, re-afforestation and return of carbon as
biochar to soils coupled with correspondingly rapid cessation of fossil
fuel burning, deforestation, methanogenic livestock production and population
growth. These urgently required climate change actions will be assisted by divestment from fossil fuels and judicial processes to punish climate criminals.

One notes that there are 1 billion
Catholics in the world and that in relation to climate change Pope Francis in his 2015
Encyclical Letter "Laudato si" demands that in order to save “millions
of premature deaths” a “fully borne” Carbon Price be emplaced on greenhouse gas
(GHG) pollution and that “there is an urgent need to develop policies so that,
in the next few years, the emission of carbon dioxide and other highly
polluting gases can be drastically reduced”. Armed with this science-informed
and authoritative moral advice, the billions of Humanity must save
themselves and the Biosphere by demanding that fossil fuel burning must rapidly
cease and the polluters must pay in full
by a Wealth Tax (for historical GHG pollution) and a Carbon Tax (for ongoing
GHG pollution) (see Pope Francis, Encyclical Letter “Laudato si”, 2015: http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html and Gideon Polya,“Pope Francis Demands “Fully Borne” Cost of Pollution (Carbon Price) To
Prevent “Millions Of Premature Deaths”, Countercurrents,29 July, 2015: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya290715.htm
).

However these CO2 draw-down processes
are expensive and from the perspective of young people (who will have to pay
the mounting Carbon Debt) it is better to keep the fossil fuels in the ground . The essential argument is as follows
(from Gideon Polya “Expert Witness Testimony to stop Gas-Fired Power Plant Installation”, Countercurrents,14 June, 2013: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya140613.htm
):

(a). The current price of Australian thermal coal is about $90
per tonne or $90 per t C x (12t C/ 44 t CO2) = $24 per tonne of CO2 released on
eventual combustion.

(b). However top climate scientists and biologists say that the
atmospheric CO2 concentration must be rapidly returned from the present
circa 400 ppm CO2 to about 300 ppm CO2 for a safe planet for all peoples and
all species.

(c). Currently, apart from re-afforestation a major way of
returning atmospheric CO2 back to 300 ppm CO2 is through producing biochar
(carbon, charcoal, C) through anaerobic pyrolysis of cellulosic
biomass waste in renewable energy-driven microwave furnaces at 400-700C (with
existing agricultural and forestry waste this could achieve about 9
Gt per year, roughly the same as the annual industrial output).

(d). The cost of conversion of cellulosic waste to biochar in
the US mid-West is about
US$49-US$74 per tonne CO2 (US$210-US$303 per tonne CO2 in the UK ).

(e). Ergo, for every $1 received for coal by the coal industry
our children, grandchildren and further generations will have to spend $2 to $3
at present prices converting the consequent CO2 back to biochar to save the
Planet. One can accordingly similarly determine (for Australia) that the
biochar production-related debt for future generations for every $1 received by
the gas-based electricity industry will be about $0.6-$1.0 at present prices
(these estimates must be multiplied by 4 for the cost of biochar production in
the UK).

One must also consider
the overall Carbon Debt to be paid by future generations (we are already paying
for some of it through sea walls and flood and drought mitigation works).
Thus climate economist Dr Chris Hope
(from 100-Nobel-Laureate Cambridge University ( has estimated a damage-related Carbon
Price of $150 per tonne CO2-e (see Dr Chris Hope, “How high should climate
change taxes be?”, Working Paper Series, Judge Business School, University of
Cambridge, 9.2011: http://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/fileadmin/user_upload/research/workingpapers/wp1109.pdf
) . The essential arguments
are as follows:

(a) There is 700- 750 GtC in atmosphere (mostly as CO2
and half due to historical fossil fuel
combustion). To get the CO2 back to the pre-Industrial Revolution 300 ppm CO2
we must draw down about 700/2 = 350 Gt CO2. Thus will come at the cost of 350 Gt C x (3.67 Gt CO2/Gt C) x $150/t CO2) = $193
trillion.

Will we achieve the required 300 ppm CO2? It doesn't appear so at present and the reasons are encapsulated in Polya's 3 Laws of Economics. Polya's 3 Laws of
Economics mirror the 3 Laws of Therrnodynamics of science and are (1) Price
minus COP (Cost of Production) equals profit; (2) Deception about COP strives to a maximum; and (3) No
work, price or profit on a dead planet. These fundamental laws help
expose the failure of neoliberal capitalism in relation to wealth
inequality, massive tax evasion by multinational corporations, and
horrendous avoidable deaths from poverty and pollution culminating in
general ecocide, speciescide, climate genocide, omnicide and terracide . Polya’s Second Law of Economics explains why we are doomed by
neoliberal economics – deceit, lying by
omission, lying by commission, and disinformation subvert rational risk
management but are remorselessly
increasing (see Gideon Polya. “Polya's 3 Laws Of
Economics Expose Deadly, Dishonest And Terminal Neoliberal Capitalism”,
Countercurrents,17 October, 2015: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya171015.htm
).

Carbon Debt
reflects the inescapable future cost in today's dollars of fixing the
remorselessly increasing climate damage. Carbon Debt is the historical
contribution of countries to the carbon pollution of the atmosphere and
can be variously expressed as Gt CO2-e (gigatonnes or billions of tonnes of
CO2-equivalent) or in dollar terms by applying a Carbon Price. Thus leading
climate economist Dr Chris Hope from 90-Nobel-Laureate Cambridge
University has estimated a damage-related Carbon Price in US dollars of
$150 per tonne CO2-e (see Dr Chris Hope, “How high should climate change taxes
be?”, Working Paper Series, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge,
9.2011: http://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/fileadmin/user_upload/research/workingpapers/wp1109.pdf
).

By way of a national example, Australia is a world-leading
annual per capita GHG polluter with a 1751-2006 Carbon Debt of 5.9 Gt C x
(3.67 Gt CO2-e/Gt C) x ($150 /t CO2-e) = $3.2 trillion plus a 2007-2015 Carbon
Debt of 2 Gt CO2-e/year x ($150 /t CO2-e) x 8 years = $2.4
trillion i.e. a total 1751-2015 Carbon Debt of $5.6 trillion (A$7.2 trillion) that
is increasing at 2 Gt CO2-e /year x ($150 /t CO2-e) = $300 billion (A$385
billion) per year. Thus Australia
(population 24 million) with 0.34% of the world's population has 2.1% of the
world's Carbon Debt. The Australian Carbon Debt will have to be paid by the
young and future generations and for under-30 year old Australians is
increasing at about $30,000 (A$38,500) per person per year, noting that the
annual Australian per capita income is about $65,000 (A$83,000) (see Gideon Polya, “2015 A-to-Z
alphabetical list of actions and advocacies for climate change activists”,
Countercurrents,14
January, 2015: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya140115.htm
).

In summary, 300.org
urges the World to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration
(CO2) to about 300 parts per million by volume (ppmv or ppm for
short). In urging a target of an atmospheric CO2 concentration of 300
ppm, 300.org is informed by the advice of top world climate scientists as set
out in carefully researched and documented presentations on this site (see Sitemap and the above list for numerous, carefully-researched, carefully-documented, dedicated websites relating to "300 ppm CO2 ASAP" and serious action on man-made climate change).

Numerous expert opinions advocating a
return of the atmosphere to about 300 ppm CO2 ASAP:

Inspired by the position of Dr Hansen (head, NASA GISS) that “CO2
will need to be reduced from its current 385 ppm to at most 350 ppm” J. Hansen et al, “Target atmospheric CO2 –
where should humanity aim?” : http://arxiv.org/abs/0804.1126 ) the
world-wide 350.org organization has the excellent position of urging a return
of the atmospheric CO2 concentration to 350 ppm or less and indeed
is organizing an extremely important world-wide day of action on 24
October 2009 to publicize this position ( 350.org: http://www.350.org/mission
).

The Australian National Climate Action Summit in Canberra (January
2009) involved over 140 community action groups and endorsed a key aim for
stabilisation at 300 ppm CO2 in the atmosphere and strong
international agreement in line with what science and global justice demands (Greenlivingpedia,
“Australian climate Action Summit 2009”: http://www.greenlivingpedia.org/Australian_climate_action_summit_2009
).

Of course rapid achievement of 350 ppm CO2 and thence 300 ppm CO2 will
require rapid cessation of greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution and one notes
that there are 1
billion Catholics and in relation to climate change Pope Francis in his
2015 Encyclical Letter "Laudato si" demands that in order
to save “millions of premature deaths” a “fully borne” Carbon Price be emplaced
on greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution and that “there is an urgent need to develop
policies so that, in the next few years, the emission of carbon dioxide and
other highly polluting gases can be drastically reduced”. Armed with this
science-informed and authoritative moral advice, the billions of Humanity
must save themselves and the Biosphere by demanding that fossil fuel burning
must rapidly cease and the polluters must pay in full by a Wealth Tax
(for historical GHG pollution) and a Carbon Tax (for ongoing GHG pollution)(see
Pope Francis, Encyclical Letter “Laudato si”, 2015: http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html
and Gideon Polya,“Pope Francis Demands
“Fully Borne” Cost of Pollution (Carbon Price) To Prevent “Millions Of
Premature Deaths”, Countercurrents,29 July, 2015: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya290715.htm
).

Just as we turn to top medical specialists for advice on life-threatening
disease, so we turn to the opinions of top scientists and in particular top
biological and climate scientists for Climate Change risk assessment and
Climate Emergency facts and requisite actions. Below is a numerically- and alphabetically-organized series of quotations
from leading climate scientists and biological scientists supporting the need
for an atmospheric CO2 concentration in the range 300-350 ppm i.e. after
“rounding down” and applying the “precautionary principle” of the lower safe
limit, an atmospheric CO2 concentration of about 300 ppm (the upper limit for
the last 600,000 years except for the last half century or so).

Dr John E.N. Veron (was the
chief scientist at the Australian Institute
of Marine Science, Townsville, Queensland, Australia; authored numerous books
on coral; leading coral expert).

Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg(Professor
and inaugural Director of the Global Change Institute at the University
of Queensland, and the holder of a Queensland Smart State Premier fellowship;
a leading expert on climate change and coral reefs).

Professor Tim M. Lenton(Professor of Climate Change and Earth System
Science at the University of Exeter; worked at the University of East
Anglia; awarded the Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award; expert on
atmosphere and ocean nutrients; worked with Dr James Lovelock on the Gaia
model).

Dr Madeleine J. H. van Oppen (The University of
Melbourne & Australian Institute of Marine Science).

Dr David O. Obura(Coastal Oceans Research and Development – Indian
Ocean (CORDIO) East Africa; co-editor of Tim R. McClanahan, Charles R. C.
Sheppard, and David O. Obura, editors, “Coral Reefs of the Indian Ocean.Their
Ecology and Conservation”; coral expert).

1. Pushker Kharecha (Ph.D. in
geosciences and astrobiology from Penn State University research scientist at
the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and Center for Climate
Systems Research at 104-Nobel-Laureate Columbia University, expert on the
global carbon cycle and proponent of nuclear energy to save lives from GHG
pollution) ;

4 Frank Ackerman (PhD, Harvard; senior economist at Synapse Energy Economics, a public
interest-oriented consulting firm in Cambridge, MA; formerly at Stockholm
Environment Institute, Tufts University's Global Development and Environment
Institute, Tellus Institute, Massachusetts; University of Massachusetts; author
of “Can We Afford the Future? Economics for a Warming World” and other books;
leading environmental economist);

5. David J. Beerling ( FRS;
Sorby Professor of Natural Sciences in the Department of Animal and Plant
Sciences at the University of Sheffield, UK; leading expert in the areas of
plant evolution, paleobiology, geobiology and biogeochemistry) ;

6. Paul J. Hearty(PhD U of
Colorado Boulder; University of North Carolina, Wilmington;
expert in the areas of Biogeography, Geochemistry, Geology) ;

7. Ove Hoegh-Guldberg (leading
coral scientist, professor and inaugural Director of the Global Change
Institute at the University of Queensland and holder of a Queensland
Smart State Premier fellowship) ;

9. Shi-Ling Hsu (Larson
Professor Florida State University College of Law; formerly a professor at the
University of British Columbia School of Law; author of “The Case For A Carbon
Tax”; expert in the areas of environmental and natural resource law, climate
change, law and economics, and property) ;

10. Camille Parmesan (Ph.D.
in Biological Sciences from the University of Texas at Austin; Professor in the
Marine Institute at Plymouth University (UK) where she holds the National
Aquarium Chair in the Public Understanding of Oceans and Human Health) ;

15. Konrad Steffen (glaciologist and the former director of the
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University
of Colorado Boulder; director of the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow
and Landscape Research);

18. James C. Zachos (Earth
and Planetary Science Department, University
of California Santa Cruz;
expert on biological, chemical, and climatic evolution of late Cretaceous and
Cenozoic oceans).

18 CLIMATE SCIENTISTS & CLIMATE ECONOMISTS. Dr James Hansen, and Pushker
Kharecha, Makiko Sato, Valerie Masson-Delmotte, Frank Ackerman, David J.
Beerling, Paul J. Hearty, Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, Shi-Ling Hsu, Camille Parmesan,
Johan Rockstrom, Eelco J. Rohling, Jeffrey Sachs, Pete Smith, Konrad Steffen,
Lise Van Susteren, Karina von Schuckmann, James C. Zachos (2013):
"Earth’s energy imbalance is the most vital number characterizing the
state of Earth’s climate. It informs us about the global temperature change “in
the pipeline” without further change of climate forcings and it defines how
much greenhouse gases must be reduced to restore Earth’s energy balance, which,
at least to a good approximation, must be the requirement for stabilizing
global climate. The measured energy imbalance accounts for all natural and
human-made climate forcings, including changes of atmospheric aerosols and
Earth’s surface albedo.

If Earth’s mean energy imbalance today is +0.5 W/m2, CO2
must be reduced from the current level of 395 ppm (global-mean annual-mean in
mid-2013) to about 360 ppm to increase Earth’s heat radiation to space by 0.5
W/m2 and restore energy balance. If Earth’s energy imbalance is 0.75
W/m2, CO2 must be reduced to about 345 ppm to restore
energy balance [64],
[75].

The measured energy imbalance indicates that an initial CO2
target “<350 ppm” would be appropriate, if the aim is to stabilize climate
without further global warming. That target is consistent with an earlier
analysis [54].
Additional support for that target is provided by our analyses of ongoing
climate change and paleoclimate, in later parts of our paper. Specification now
of a CO2 target more precise than <350 ppm is difficult and
unnecessary, because of uncertain future changes of forcings including other
gases, aerosols and surface albedo. More precise assessments will become
available during the time that it takes to turn around CO2 growth
and approach the initial 350 ppm target." (James Hansen, Pushker Kharecha,
Makiko Sato, Valerie Masson-Delmotte, Frank Ackerman, David J. Beerling, Paul
J. Hearty, Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, Shi-Ling Hsu, Camille Parmesan, Johan Rockstrom,
Eelco J. Rohling, Jeffrey Sachs, Pete Smith, Konrad Steffen, Lise Van Susteren,
Karina von Schuckmann, James C. Zachos, “Assessing “dangerous climate change”:
required reduction of carbon emissions to protect young people, future
generations and Nature”, PLOS One, 8 (12), 3 December 2013: http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0081648
).

35 CORAL SCIENTISTS. 35 signatories
to the Statement of the Coral Reef Crisis Working Group Meeting, The
Royal Society (6 July 2009): “Coral
reefs are the most biologically diverse habitats of the oceans and provide
essential ecosystem goods and services to hundreds of millions of people.
Temperature-induced mass coral bleaching causing widespread mortality on the Great Barrier Reef and many other reefs of the world
started when atmospheric CO2 exceeded 320ppm.At today’s level of
approximately 387ppm CO2, reefs are seriously declining and time-lagged effects
will result in their continued demise with parallel impacts on other marine and
coastal ecosystems. Proposals to limit CO2 levels to 450ppm will not prevent
the catastrophic loss of coral reefs from the combined effects of global
warming and ocean acidification.To ensure the long-term viability of
coral reefs the atmospheric CO2 level must be reduced significantly below 350ppm.
In addition to major reductions in CO2 emissions, achieving this safe level
will require the active removal of CO2 from the atmosphere. Given
the above, ecosystem-based management of other direct human induced stresses on
coral reefs, such as overfishing, destructive fishing, coastal pollution and
sedimentation, will be essential for the survival of coral reefs on which so
many people depend” [28].

1. Sir David Attenborough (Working
Group Co-chair; famous for preparing and presenting BBC nature programs).

14. Professor Tim Lenton
(formerly University of East Anglia; Professor of Climate Change and Earth System Science at the University of Exeter; awarded the Royal Society
Wolfson Research Merit Award; expert on atmosphere and ocean nutrients; worked
with Dr James Lovelock on the Gaia model).

19.
Dr David Obura (IUCN Coral Specialist Group and Coastal Oceans Research and
Development – Indian Ocean (CORDIO) East Africa; co-editor of Tim R.
McClanahan, Charles R. C. Sheppard, and David Obura, editors, “Coral Reefs of
the Indian Ocean.Their Ecology and Conservation”; coral expert).

35. Professor John E.N, Veron (Coral Reef Research; was the chief scientist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science,
Townsville, Queensland, Australia;
authored numerous books on coral; leading coral expert).

41 AUSTRALIAN SCIENTISTS. 41 Australian scientist co-signatories to an important statement
prepared by Dr Barrie Pittock PSM (former leader, Climate Impact Group, CSIRO,
IPCC Lead Author, and author of Climate Change: Turning Up the Heat), and Dr
Andrew Glikson (Earth and paleoclimate research scientist, former Principal
Research Scientist, AGSO; Visiting Fellow, Australian National University) that
stated:"Reduction of
CO2 levels to 300-350 ppm may be required to have a reasonable probability of
restoring a safe climate” ( 350.org, “40 Australian scientists
sign on to 350 target, call for urgency oin the fight against climate change”,
22 October 2008: http://www.350.org/en/about/blogs/40-australian-scientists-sign-350-target-call-urgency-fight-against-climate-change
).

41. Professor Clive Warren, School of Geography,
Planning and Architecture, University
of Queensland.

350.ORG.Bill McKibben (co-founder of 350.org ) (2009) : “”The
critical importance of less than 350 ppm CO2”. That’s the title of a new paper
from Australian marine scientists.“If CO2 levels are allowed to continue to
approach 450 ppm (due by 2030–2040 at the current rates at which emissions are
climbing), reefs will be in rapid and terminal decline world-wide from mass
coral bleaching, ocean acidification, and other environmental impacts
associated with climate change,” Professor Charlie Veron, Professor
Hoegh-Guldberg, Dr Janice Lough of COECRS and the Australian Institute of
Marine Science and colleagues warn in the scientific paper published in the
Marine Pollution Bulletin."CO2 emissions are turning the oceans more
acidic, causing damage to corals and all life with a carbonate skeletons or shells
and, if unchecked, potentially leading to mass extinctions of ocean life like
those of the geological past. “We are already well above the safe levels for
the world’s coral reefs. The proposed 450ppm/2 degree target is dangerous for
the world’s corals and for the 500 million people who depend on them,”
Professor Hoegh-Guldberg said. “We should not go there, not only for reasons of
coral reefs, but for the many other impacts that are extremely likely"
(Bill McKibben, “”The critical importance of less than 350 ppm CO2”, 350.org: https://350.org/critical-importance-less-350-ppm-co2/
[rounded down, less than 350 ppm CO2 is about
300 ppm CO2]).

350.org and Center for Biological Diversity (2008): “Climate
change is happening much more quickly than previously predicted. 2
Based on observed impacts, future warming commitment, and paleoclimatic
evidence, leading climate

scientists including Dr. James Hansen have
concluded that current atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations of ~392 ppm
are “already in the dangerous zone.”3 To preserve a planet
resembling the one humans have known, we must reduce atmospheric concentrations
of CO2 to less than 350 ppm… Although the observed
and committed impacts are dire, we have not passed the point of no return. We
still can reverse current effects and minimize future ones, provided that we
can achieve and maintain an ambitious global emissions reduction trajectory.
Reducing CO2 to between 300 to 350 ppm can restore sea
ice, re-establish the balance of ice sheets and glaciers 3 to avoid runaway sea
level rise and protect alpine water supplies, and avoid levels of ocean acidification
that destroy coral reefs.8 However, Hansen and others have concluded
that a 350 ppm target must be achieved within decades to prevent dangerous
tipping points and “the possibility of seeding irreversible catastrophic
effects.”9 “ (Center for Biological
Diversity and 350.org, “Achieving a CO2 concentration of 350 ppm or less to
avoid catastrophic climate impacts”, 2008: http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/climate_law_institute/350_or_bust/pdfs/Not_Just_a_Number-v3.pdf
).

AHMED. Dr. Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed( bestselling author, award-winning investigative journalist, and noted
international security scholar, as well as a policy expert, film maker,
strategy and communications consultant, change activist, and author of Zero
Point, and “A User’s Guide to the Crisis of Civilization: And How to
Save It” which inspired the
award-winning documentary feature film, “The Crisis
of Civilization”) (2015)
: “The much-vaunted COP21 negotiations in Paris are, despite the claims of
world leaders, dead on arrival. Emissions reductions targets are not up for
discussion. Those pledges are already on the table, having been put forward
voluntarily by each country. Government negotiators in Paris are instead looking at banal details of
how and when countries should commit to improving their voluntary pledges, and
ensuring "transparency" and "accountability". Catastrophe? But
current emissions pledges already guarantee disaster…But the more scientists
learn, the more they realise we keep underestimating the risks. Last year, an
analysis in Scientific American by Professor Michael Mann of Pennsylvania State
University explained that
new research showed the two degree danger zone could be breached at our present
rate of emissions within just 20 years. This means limiting global atmospheric
carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations to around 405 parts per million (ppm).Even this, Mann explained, is based on “a
conservative definition of climate sensitivity that considers only the
so-called fast feedbacks in the climate system, such as changes in clouds,
water vapor and melting sea ice. Some climate scientists, including James E. Hansen,
former head of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, say we must also
consider slower feedbacks such as changes in the continental ice sheets”. That
implies that a safe level of atmospheric CO2 is actually less than 350 ppm (Nafeez
Ahmed, “Paris Climate Negotiations Won’t Stop The Planet Burning”,
Countercurrents,7 December, 2015: http://www.countercurrents.org/ahmed071215.htm
).

ALLEY. Dr Richard Alley (a
glaciologist at Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania,
USA, on the reported slow-motion collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet)
(2014): “Very crudely, we are now committed to global sea level rise
equivalent to a permanent [2012] Hurricane Sandy storm surge… The possibility
that we have already committed to 3 or more meters of sea level rise from West
Antarctica will be disquieting to many people, even if the rise waits centuries
before arriving” (Dr Richard Alley
quoted in Thomas Sumner, “West Antarctic ice sheet is collapsing”, Science Now,
12 May 2014: http://news.sciencemag.org/climate/2014/05/west-antarctic-ice-sheet-collapsing
).

BIELO, David. David Bielo (a contributing editor at
Scientific
American) (2013): “ On May 2 [2013], after nightfall shut down
photosynthesis for the day in Hawaii, carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere
touched 400 parts-per-million there for the first time in at least 800,000
years. Near the summit of volcanic Mauna Loa—where
a member of the Keeling family has kept watch since 1958—sensors measured this
record through sunrise the following day. Levels have continued to dance near
that benchmark in recent days, registering above 400 ppm for the first time in
eons after midnight on May 7. When the measurements started the daily average
could be as low as 315 ppm, already up from a pre-industrial average of around
280 ppm… The last time CO2 levels at Mauna Loa
were this high, Homo sapiens did not live there. In fact, the last
time CO2 levels are thought to have been this high was more than 2.5 million
years ago, an era known as the Pliocene, when the Canadian Arctic boasted
forests instead of icy wastes. The land bridge connecting North America and South America had recently formed. The globe's
temperature averaged about 3 degrees C warmer, and sea level lapped coasts 5
meters or more higher… (Scripps Institute graph showing less than about 300 ppm
CO2 for the last 800,000 years) given CO2's long lifetime in the atmosphere,
the world will continue to warm to some extent; at least as much as the 0.8
degree C of warming to date is likely thanks to the CO2 already in the
atmosphere. At present pace, the world could reach 450 ppm in a few short
decades. The record notches up another 2 ppm per year at present pace. Human
civilization developed and flourished in a geologic era that never saw CO2
concentrations above 300 ppm. We are in novel territory again and we show no
signs of slowing to get our bearings, let alone stopping” (David Bielo, “400
ppm: carbon dioxide in atmosphere reaches prehistoric levels”, Scientific American,
9 May 2013: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/400-ppm-carbon-dioxide-in-the-atmosphere-reaches-prehistoric-levels/
).

BOLIVIA. Bolivian position supporting circa 300 ppm CO2 (2010): “Developed countries
shall take the lead and strive towards returning greenhouse gas concentrations
in the atmosphere to well below 300 ppm CO2eq with a view to returning concentrations
to levels as close as possible to pre-industrial levels [280 ppm CO2] in the
longer-term, and to limit the average global temperatures to a maximum level of
1°C with a view to returning temperatures to levels as close as possible to
pre-industrial levels in the longer-term, with deep and adequate economy wide
emissions reductions in the medium and long terms and taking effective measures
to fulfill their commitments relating to the provision of substantial financial
resources, capacity building and to provide technology development and transfer
of environmentally sound technologies and know how to developing country
Parties. These enabling means are critical and an important measure to enhance
the contribution and voluntary efforts of developing country Parties to the
efforts of stabilizing of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere” (Bolivia,
“Paragraph 2, Section “A. Shared vision for long-term cooperative action,” in “Submission
by the Plurinational State of Bolivia to the Ad-Hoc Working Group on Long-Term
Cooperative Action ).

BROOK. Professor
Barry Brook (Sir
Hubert Wilkins chair of climate change and director of climate science at the University of Adelaide's Environment Institute) (2009): “If the planet is
like an oven, it's still possible to turn down the temperature.The
number is 300 and the methods will be extraordinary. In 2007, a climate
awareness campaign was launched by well-known environmental author Bill
McKibben. It was coined 350.org, with the slogan "350 is the most
important number on the planet". The figure refers to a target
concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the Earth's atmosphere, in parts per
million (ppm). This number was drawn from a recent study by a team of climate
scientists, led by NASA's Dr James Hansen ... But there is another, more surprising,
problem with 350. It's the wrong number. While 350 ppm should give us a
reasonable shot at avoiding more than two degrees of warming, that's hardly a
safe future to be aiming for. We need only to look at the impacts at less than
one degree to know we're already committed to some tough adaptation problems …A target of 300 to 325 ppm CO2 - the levels of the 1950s - is necessary if
we wish to cut additional warming and start to roll back the already damaging
impacts. As such, 350 is not a target, it's a signpost to a goal. So we're
aiming at 350 but the real goal is 300 and we're already at 385” (Professor
Barry Brook, “Six degrees of separation”, Sydney Morning Herald, 23 March 2009:
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/earth-hour/six-degrees--of-separation-for-the-planet-20090324-984c.html
; Professor Barry Brook, “BraveNewClimate.com: http://bravenewclimate.com/ ).

CARTER.Dr. Peter Carter
(a retired physician and environmental health research analyst from Canada) on
the importance of the Bolivian climate change position [1C increase maximum;
reduce CO2 to 300 ppm CO2 from the current damaging 400 ppm CO2]: “Why
the Bolivian government 1ºC climate change position is the only position for
the survival of the Global South and for the food security of the entire world…The Bolivian climate change position:

The global average
temperature increase of the surface of planet Earth must be limited to
1°C.

Industrialized nations must
stop emitting carbon. This means a total redevelopment to convert to
clean, perpetual and zero carbon energy for all people. What a wonderful
idea!

The industrialized nations
must extract “billions of tons” of carbon dioxide directly from the air.
The fact is that climate change science has totally established that only
zero carbon emissions, supplemented by the extraction of carbon dioxide
directly from the atmosphere, can lead to the reduction of today’s
catastrophically high level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (390 ppm)
and stop it from increasing further. This is the best kept secret of the
industrialized nations, because it is a scientific fact that has been
known for many years yet ignored.

The most important numbers in the world are 1°C and 0 carbon emissions.
Without zero carbon emissions, no other numbers can happen, except higher and
higher numbers, leading inevitably to climate catastrophe” ( Peter Carter, “Why
the Bolivian government 1ºC climate change position is the only position for
the survival of the Global South and for the food security of the entire
world”, Wrong Kind of Green: http://wrongkindofgreen.org/tag/300-ppm/
).

CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY. Center for Biological Diversity (a
nonprofit organization based in Tucson,
Arizona with approximately 1.1
million members and online activists, dedicated to protecting endangered species through legal
action, science-informed petitions, and
other activism) and 350.org (2008): “Climate change
is happening much more quickly than previously predicted. 2
Based on observed impacts, future warming commitment, and paleoclimatic
evidence, leading climate scientists including Dr. James Hansen have concluded
that current atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations of ~392 ppm are “already
in the dangerous zone.”3 To preserve a planet resembling the one
humans have known, we must reduce atmospheric concentrations of CO2 to
less than 350 ppm… Although the observed and committed impacts are dire, we
have not passed the point of no return. We still can reverse current effects
and minimize future ones, provided that we can achieve and maintain an
ambitious global emissions reduction trajectory. Reducing CO2
to between 300 to 350 ppm can restore sea ice, re-establish the balance of ice
sheets and glaciers 3 to avoid runaway sea level rise and protect alpine water
supplies, and avoid levels of ocean acidification that destroy coral reefs.8
However, Hansen and others have concluded that a 350 ppm target must be
achieved within decades to prevent dangerous tipping points and “the
possibility of seeding irreversible catastrophic effects.”9 “ (Center for Biological Diversity and
350.org, “Achieving a CO2 concentration of 350 ppm or less to avoid
catastrophic climate impacts”, 2008: http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/climate_law_institute/350_or_bust/pdfs/Not_Just_a_Number-v3.pdf
).

COSTANZA. Professor Robert Costanza
, a leading ecological economist and Professor of Public Policy at the Crawford
School of Public Policy at The Australian National University, in a paper with numerous other top scholars in
the top scientifc journal Nature saying that atmospheric CO2 must not exceed 350 ppm
(September 2009): "Our proposed climate boundary is based on two
critical thresholds that separate qualitatively different climate-system
states. It has two parameters: atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide and
radiative forcing (the rate of energy change per unit area of the globe as
measured at the top of the atmosphere). We propose that human changes to
atmospheric CO2 concentrations should not exceed 350 parts per
million by volume, and that radiative forcing should not exceed 1 watt per square
metre above pre-industrial levels. Transgressing these boundaries will increase
the risk of irreversible climate change, such as the loss of major ice sheets,
accelerated sea-level rise and abrupt shifts in forest and agricultural
systems. Current CO2 concentration stands at 387 p.p.m.v. and the
change in radiative forcing is 1.5 W m-2 “ (Johan Rockström, Will Steffen, Kevin Noone,
Åsa Persson, F. Stuart Chapin, III, Eric F. Lambin, Timothy M. Lenton, Marten
Scheffer, Carl Folke, Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Björn Nykvist, Cynthia A. de
Wit, Terry Hughes, Sander van der Leeuw, Henning Rodhe, Sverker Sörlin, Peter
K. Snyder, Robert Costanza, Uno Svedin, Malin Falkenmark, Louise Karlberg,
Robert W. Corell, Victoria J. Fabry, James Hansen, Brian Walker, Diana
Liverman, Katherine Richardson, Paul Crutzen & Jonathan A. Foley, “A safe operating space for
humanity”, Nature, 461, 472-475, 2009: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v461/n7263/full/461472a.html
).

COURTICE. Ben Courtice ( member of Australia’s Socialist Alliance on
the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth,
Cochabamba, Bolivia) (2010): “The conference calls for the world to adopt a
target of maximum 1 degree warming, and therefore to aim for 300 ppm CO2 in the
atmosphere. To this end the conference called for rich nations to adopt targets
of 50% emissions reductions (based on 1990 emissions) by 2017. These are
demands being taken to the next international conference in Cancun.
These are also the most radical demands being pushed by any of the climate
movement in the West, such as the Climate Emergency Network here in Australia” (Ben
Courtice, “Pachamam, bien vivir, and the Climate Debt”, Climate &
Capitalism, 5 May 2010: http://climateandcapitalism.com/2010/05/06/pachamama-bien-vivir-and-the-climate-debt/
).

CSIRO. Commonwealth
Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Australia's premier scientific research organization (2009)
: “Since the Industrial Revolution, the CO2 concentrations have risen 37%,
methane 150% and nitrous oxide 18%. The global increases in CO2 concentration
are due primarily to fossil fuel use and land-use change, while the increases
in methane and nitrous oxide are primarily due to agriculture. The CO2
concentration in 2008 of 383 parts per million (ppm) is much higher than the
natural range of 172 to 300 ppm that existed over the last 800,000 years” (CSIRO,
“The Science of Climate Change”, 2008: http://www.csiro.au/files/files/poqu.pdf
).

DAVIES. Dr
Geoff Davies (geophysicist, author of “Economia:
New Economic Systems to Empower People and Support the Living World”
, Senior Fellow in geophysics at the
Australian National University and has authored 100 scientific papers and a
scientific book, Fellow of the American
Geophysical Union) (2011): “In a new scientific paper (pdf,
600kb) prominent climate scientist James Hansen and his colleague Makiko Sato
argue that the Earth is now at least as warm as it was between earlier ice
ages, and further warming by even one degree celsius could result in sea level
rising by anything from 5 to 25 meters, with perhaps 5 meters rise by the end
of this century. This implies more stringent limits than current,
politically-adopted targets to keep warming below two degrees celsius and
atmospheric carbon dioxide content below 450 parts per million (ppm).
Hansen now says the present targets are “prescriptions for disaster”, and that
we must keep warming to less than one degree. This requires reducing
atmospheric carbon dioxide to less than 350 ppm, from its present value near
390 ppm, as quickly as possible. Meeting the new targets would require very
rapid reductions in emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, and
active efforts to withdraw carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Bio-sequestration (using plants to build carbon in soil) is an option that can
be undertaken immediately… The old targets, limiting the temperature increase
to less than 2 degrees celsius and carbon dioxide to less than 450 ppm, were
based on ice core records, which indicated that two previous interglacial
periods, about 120,000 and 400,000 years ago, were 2.7-3.7 degrees celsius
warmer than the Holocene. The figure below shows two estimates of ice-age
temperatures (red) compared with the same reference calculation (blue) based on
known ice extents and greenhouse gas concentrations. Panel (a) shows
ice-core estimates, featuring quite high peaks in several of the more recent
interglacials. At those times sea level was 5 metres or more higher than
now. However Hansen and Sato now argue that the ice core record is affected by
extra regional warming over the polar ice sheets, and it is not representative
of the globe as a whole. They argue the deep sea sediment record is more
globally representative, and this shows the earlier temperature peaks to have
been no more than 1 degree warmer than now, as can be seen in Panel (b).
So in this interpretation, [interglacial]sea level was 5 metres higher despite the temperature being no more
than one degree higher than now” (Geoff Davies, “Global warming
danger: catastrophic?”, On-line Opinion, 8 February 2011: http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=11588
; ) [Editor note:
plus 2C is now unavoidable, plus 1.5 C is predicted within 4-10 years and plus 1.2C
was reached in 2016 - WMO, “Provisional WMO statement on the status of the global
climate in 2016”, WMO, 14 November2016: https://public.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/provisional-wmo-statement-status-of-global-climate-2016].

DI-APING. Ambassador Lumumba Stanislaus Di-Aping. briefing
to Civil Society NGOs, 11 December, 2009: “The
first fundamental that we have to agree on at 5(4) is the issue of the 1.5
degree Celsius and the 350 ppm [CO2]. And the centrality of this is because a
deal that cannot save God, humanity and nature is not a deal that we should
entertain in the first place. Those who articulated a perspective and
tried to persuade us that the 2 degrees Celsius is a sound choice have made a
trade off between life, humanity, and profit-seeking pursuits. It has no
base in science. The very reports that they try to persuade us that they are
based on, do not support their case. The IPCC AR4 [4th Assessment Report]
says that two degrees Celsius will result in Africa warming up to 3.5[C] and
the small islands states equally being threatened by the sea level rise. I will
say this and I will say it with absolute conviction. Two degrees Celsius
is certain death for Africa, is certain
devastation of island states” (Cory Morningstar, “The most important
COP briefing that no one ever heard – truth, lies, racism and omnicide”, The Art of Annihilation, 11 Decemebr 2012: http://www.theartofannihilation.com/the-most-important-cop-briefings-that-no-one-ever-heard-truth-lies-racism-omnicide/
).

FANKHAUSER.Dr Samuel Fankhauser (economist and climate change specialist at
the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, London
School of Economics; member of the UK Committee on Climate Change, a government
watchdog that monitors UK climate change policy; former Deputy Chief Economist
at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD); served on the
1995, 2001 and 2007 assessments of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC)) (2009), was reported by IPS thus: “A future global
climate change treaty must limit the concentration of carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere to 350 parts per million (ppm), and not 450 ppm, the currently
proposed level, Samuel Fankhauser told a meeting of pro-environment legislators
from the eight most industrialised countries and emerging economies here. But
they felt the goal was not feasible. A British economist and researcher on
climate change, Fankhauser said the limit he is urging is the only way to avoid
the irreversible bleaching of coral in coastal areas, with all that this
implies for people's livelihoods and the environment”. Dr Fankhauser was
directly quoted thus : “"Action against climate change might cost up to
three percent of the world's GDP during the next 40 years," Fankhauser
told IPS. "But this price is still cheaper than doing nothing about it…The
global climate change sector is already booming. Revenues generated by measures
against climate change have surpassed 500 billion dollars in 2008, and could be
worth some two trillion dollars by 2020…[500 million people] live within 100
kilometres of reef ecosystems, and benefit from these services…Another
important service provided by coral reefs and healthy seashore ecosystems is
climate regulation and coastal protection, through carbon sequestration, waste
treatment, and protection against hurricanes and the like” ( Julio Godoy,
“Climate change target too ambitious, say lawmakers”, IPS, 26 October 2009: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49010
).

GLIKSON. Dr
Andrew Glikson (an Earth and
paleo-climate research scientist at Australian National University, Canberra,
Australia) (2009): “For some time now, climate
scientists warned that melting of subpolar permafrost and warming of the Arctic
Sea (up to 4 degrees C during 2005–2008 relative to the 1951–1980) are likely
to result in the dissociation of methane hydrates and the release of this
powerful greenhouse gas into the atmosphere (methane: 62 times the infrared
warming effect of CO2 over 20 years and 21 times over 100 years) …
The amount of carbon stored in Arctic sediments and permafrost is estimated as
500–2500 Gigaton Carbon (GtC), as compared with the world’s total fossil fuel
reserves estimated as 5000 GtC. Compare with the 700 GtC of the atmosphere,
which regulate CO2 levels in the range of 180–300 parts per million
and land temperatures in a range of about – 50 to + 50 degrees C, which allowed
the evolution of warm blooded mammals. The continuing use of the atmosphere as
an open sewer for industrial pollution has already added some 305 GtC to the
atmosphere together with land clearing and animal-emitted methane. This raised
CO2 levels to 387 ppm CO2 to date, leading toward
conditions which existed on Earth about 3 million years (Ma) ago
(mid-Pliocene), when CO2 levels rose to about 400 ppm, temperatures
to about 2–3 degrees C and sea levels by about 25 +/- 12 metres. There is
little evidence for an extinction at 3 Ma. However, by crossing above a CO2
level of 400 ppm the atmosphere is moving into uncharted territory. At this
stage, enhanced methane leaks threaten climate events, such as the massive
methane release and fauna extinction of 55 million years ago, which was marked
by rise of CO2 to near-1000 ppm” (Dr Andrew
Glikson,“The Methane Time Bomb and the Triple Melt-down",
Countercurrents, 2009 : http://www.countercurrents.org/glikson101008.htm
).

Andrew Glikson (Australian Earth and Paleoclimate scientist) on looming
climate catastrophe, climate genocide and “existential calamity for
civilization and nature”(2016): “Little mention is made of the existential
threats posed by the climate and nuclear issues in the context of the current
elections in the US and Australia. According
to the world’s climate research institutions and the bulk of the peer reviewed
scientific literature, the Earth has now entered a critical stage at which amplifying
feedback effects to global warming transcend points of no return.
Manifestations of a shift in state of the climate include; current rise in CO2
at 3.3 parts per million per year, the fastest recorded for the last 65 million
years; extreme rises in Arctic temperatures; a plethora of extreme weather
events such as cyclones, floods and fires; demise of habitats such as the Great
Barrier Reef where corals die due to high water temperatures and coral
bleaching; and other developments. The extreme rise of atmospheric carbon
dioxide since the onset of the industrial age, and the corresponding rise in
mean global temperatures as a direct result of the rise in carbon gases, pose
an existential risk to the future of nature and civilization. The consequences
of further burning of the vast carbon reserves buried in sediments and in
permafrost and bogs can only result in a mass extinction of species which rivals that of the five great mass
extinctions in Earth history… It follows that, where and when the majority of
authoritative scientific institutions (NASA, NOAA, NSIDC, Hadley-Met, Tyndale,
Potsdam, CSIRO, World Academy of Science, IPCC and so on), based on the bulk of
the evidence, indicate beyond reasonable
doubt that open-ended emissions of greenhouse gases inevitably lead to a major
shift in the terrestrial climate, and thereby the demise of humans and of
species, a toleration and/or condoning of continuing emissions by governments
contravenes at the very least the spirit of international laws… 1. Since
the mid-1980s an abrupt rise in the temperature levels of the atmosphere, driven
by an increase in concentration of greenhouse gases arising from release of
>600billion ton of carbon (GtC) to the atmosphere is leading to an extreme
shift in state of the atmosphere-ocean system, such has no precedence in the
recorded geological history, with the exception of events which resulted in the
mass extinction of species, including massive volcanism, extra-terrestrial
impacts and large-scale release of methane. 2. As a direct consequence of the
above, as well as reduction of the transient protection by industrial sulphur
dioxide since mid-1980s, mean global temperatures have risen since about 1970
by more than 0.6o Currently, had it not been for the aerosols, mean
global temperature would have been higher by an additional near to 1oC.
3. Allowing for the masking effect of sulphur aerosols, the total rise in
temperature since the onset of the industrial age ~1750 is reaching levels
similar to those of the Pliocene period (~2.6 – 5.3 million years ago). The
shift is occurring at the fastest rate recorded by paleoclimate studies.
Whereas many species can adapt to gradual environmental changes, the current temperature
rise rate resulting from ~2-3 parts per million (ppm) CO2/year may
not be sustained. 4. The current change
is manifested by an increase in the rate of melting of the major ice sheets,
accelerating sea level rise and a rise in the frequency and intensity of
extreme weather events, reflecting elevated energy level of the
atmosphere-ocean system. 5.The consequences of continuing carbon emissions and
consequent rise of mean global temperatures would render large parts of the
Earth’s land surfaces uninhabitable due to temperature rise, droughts, storms
and flooding of coastal, deltas and lower river regions by sea level rise –
estimated as about 25+/-12 meters under Pliocene conditions, constituting an
existential calamity for civilization and nature. 6. Excepting injection of
transient short residence-time sulphur aerosols, the arrest of current climate
trend would require (A) a meaningful reduction in current rate of carbon
emission(~9 GtC/year) and (B) development of new methodologies for draw-down of
atmospheric CO2, by at least 50 ppm, requiring research efforts on a global
scale” (Andrew Glikson, “The
climate Titanic and the melting icebergs”, Countercurrents, 30 June 2016: http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/06/30/the-climate-titanic-and-the-melting-icebergs/
).

Dr Andrew Glikson (earth scientist and
paleoclimatologist, ANU) (2016): “The Paris
agreement, being non-binding, is in danger of not being fulfilled by many of
the signatories… [need action to] transition from carbon-emitting technologies
to alternative clean energy as fast as possible, and focus technology on
draw-down (sequestration) of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere” (Dr Andrew Glikson
quoted in James Whitmore, “Letter signed by 154 Australian experts demands climate
policy match the science”, Guardian Australia, 25 August 2016: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/aug/25/letter-signed-by-154-australian-experts-demands-climate-policy-match-the-science
).

GOREAU.Dr T. Goreau (Jamaica delegation climate change expert making a scientific and
technical briefing to the Association of Small Island States, UN Climate Change
Conference, Copenhagen, Denmark, December 7-18, 2009, President of the Global
Coral Reef Alliance, an international NGO for restoration of coral reefs, and a
member of the Jamaican delegation to UNCCC; previously Senior Scientific
Affairs Officer at the United Nations Centre for Science and Technology for Development,
in charge of Global Climate Change and Biodiversity issues, where he
contributed to the original draft of the UN Framework Convention on Climate
Change ) (2009): “Summary. The long-term sea level that corresponds to
current CO2 concentration is about 23 meters above today’s levels, and the
temperatures will be 6 degrees C higher. These estimates are based on real,
long term climate records, not on models. We have not yet felt the real impacts
of the current excess of greenhouse gases produced by fossil fuels, and the
data shows that they will in the long run be many times higher than IPCC models
project. In order to prevent these long term changes, CO2 must be stabilized at
levels below preindustrial levels, around 260 parts per million. CO2 build up must
be reversed, not allowed to increase or even to be stabilized at 350 ppm,
which would amount to a death sentence for coral reefs, small island developing
states, and billions of people living along low lying coast lines. The
good news is that all tools for reversing global warming and reducing CO2 to
safe levels are ready, proven, and cost effective, but are not being seriously
used due to lack of polices and funding...

Current “targets” for CO2 being discussed by UNCCC are way too high to
prevent the extinction of coral reefs (which can take no further warming, since
most corals have died in the last 20 years from heat shock) and the
disappearance of all low lying islands and coastlines where billions of people
live. Even a target of 350 ppm is UNACCEPTABLE if we are to avoid dangerous
interference with the Earth climate system, causing inconceivable ecological,
environmental, and economic disaster. Global warming must not be allowed to
continue as would happen by stabilizing CO2 and temperature at present levels.
Greenhouse gas buildup MUST BE REVERSED, and CO2 reduced to levels of around
260 ppm, below Pre-Industrial levels. The technologies to do so are proven,
cost effective, and capable of being rapidly ramped up, but are not being used
on the scale needed due to lack of serious policies and funding to reverse
global warming and stabilize the climate system at safe levels. THAT IS WHAT AOSIS
AND UNCCC MUST ACCOMPLISH IF WE ARE TO PRESERVE OUR PLANETʼS LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS
FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS. The solutions are already in hand. Letʼs all get
serious and stop stealing our childrenʼs future!” ( Dr T. Goreau, “What is the
right target for CO2? 350 ppm is a death sentence for coral reefs and low lying
islands, the safe level for SIDS [Small Island Developing States] is
around 260 parts per million [ppm]”, scientific and technical briefing to the
Association of Small Island States, UN Climate Change Conference, Copenhagen,
Denmark, December 7-18, 2009: http://www.globalcoral.org/wpcontent/uploads/2014/01/aosis_briefing_2009.pdf
).

(a) DrJames Hansen
with 8 UK, French and US climate
change scientist co-authors (2008): “Paleoclimate data show that climate
sensitivity is ~3 deg-C for doubled CO2 [carbon dioxide; atmospheric
CO2 280 ppm pre-industrial], including only fast feedback processes.
Equilibrium sensitivity, including slower surface albedo feedbacks, is ~6 deg-C
for doubled CO2 for the range of climate states between glacial
conditions and ice-free Antarctica. Decreasing
CO2 was the main cause of a cooling trend that began 50 million
years ago, large scale glaciation occurring when CO2 fell to 450 +/-
100 ppm [parts per million], a level that will be exceeded within decades,
barring prompt policy changes. If humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar
to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted,
paleoclimate evidence and ongoing climate change suggest that CO2
will need to be reduced from its current 385 ppm to at most 350 ppm. The
largest uncertainty in the target arises from possible changes of non-CO2
forcings. An initial 350 ppm CO2 target may be achievable by phasing
out coal use except where CO2 is captured and adopting agricultural
and forestry practices that sequester carbon. If the present overshoot of this
target CO2 is not brief, there is a possibility of seeding
irreversible catastrophic effects” ( James Hansen et al, “Target atmospheric
CO2 – where should humanity aim?” : http://arxiv.org/abs/0804.1126 ).

(c) DrJames Hansen
, Mki. Sato, P. Kharecha, G. Russell, D.W. Lea, and M. Siddall, 2007:
Climate change and trace gases. Phil. Trans. Royal. Soc. A, 365,
1925-1954): “Paleoclimate data show that the Earth's climate is remarkably
sensitive to global forcings. Positive feedbacks predominate. This allows the
entire planet to be whipsawed between climate states. One feedback, the
"albedo flip" property of water substance, provides a powerful
trigger mechanism. A climate forcing that "flips" the albedo of a
sufficient portion of an ice sheet can spark a cataclysm. Ice sheet and ocean
inertia provides only moderate delay to ice sheet disintegration and a burst of
added global warming. Recent greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions place the Earth
perilously close to dramatic climate change that could run out of our control,
with great dangers for humans and other creatures. Carbon dioxide (CO2)
is the largest human-made climate forcing, but other trace constituents are
important. Only intense simultaneous efforts to slow CO2 emissions
and reduce non-CO2 forcings can keep climate within or near the
range of the past million years. The most important of the non-CO2
forcings is methane (CH4), as it causes the 2nd largest human-made
GHG climate forcing and is the principal cause of increased tropospheric ozone
(O3), which is the 3rd largest GHG forcing. Nitrous oxide (N2O)
should also be a focus of climate mitigation efforts. Black carbon ("black
soot") has a high global warming potential (~2000, 500, and 200 for 20,
100 and 500 years, respectively) and deserves greater attention. Some forcings
are especially effective at high latitudes, so concerted efforts to reduce
their emissions could still "save the Arctic", while also having
major benefits for human health, agricultural productivity, and the global
environment” ( James Hansen, Mki. Sato, P. Kharecha, G. Russell, D.W. Lea, and
M. Siddall, (2007): Climate change and trace gases. Phil. Trans. Royal.
Soc. A, 365, 1925-1954: http://pubs.giss.nasa.gov/abstracts/2007/Hansen_etal_2.html
).

(d) DrJames Hansen
, in an address to the US National Press Club and a briefing to the US House
Select Committee on Energy Independence & Global Warming Congressional
Committee: “CEOs of fossil energy companies know what they are doing and are
aware of long-term consequences of business as usual. In my opinion,
these CEOs should be tried for high crimes against humanity and nature” (Dr
James Hansen, to the US National Press Club and a briefing to the US House
Select Committee on Energy Independence & Global Warming Congressional
Committee: http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/2008/TwentyYearsLater_20080623.pdf
).

(g). Dr James
Hansen, and Pushker Kharecha, Makiko Sato, Valerie Masson-Delmotte, Frank
Ackerman, David J. Beerling, Paul J. Hearty, Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, Shi-Ling Hsu,
Camille Parmesan, Johan Rockstrom, Eelco J. Rohling, Jeffrey Sachs, Pete Smith,
Konrad Steffen, Lise Van Susteren, Karina von Schuckmann, James C. Zachos
(2013): "Earth’s energy imbalance is the most vital number
characterizing the state of Earth’s climate. It informs us about the global
temperature change “in the pipeline” without further change of climate forcings
and it defines how much greenhouse gases must be reduced to restore Earth’s
energy balance, which, at least to a good approximation, must be the
requirement for stabilizing global climate. The measured energy imbalance
accounts for all natural and human-made climate forcings, including changes of
atmospheric aerosols and Earth’s surface albedo.

If Earth’s mean energy imbalance today is +0.5 W/m2, CO2
must be reduced from the current level of 395 ppm (global-mean annual-mean in
mid-2013) to about 360 ppm to increase Earth’s heat radiation to space by 0.5
W/m2 and restore energy balance. If Earth’s energy imbalance is 0.75
W/m2, CO2 must be reduced to about 345 ppm to restore
energy balance [64],
[75].

The measured energy imbalance
indicates that an initial CO2 target “<350 ppm” would be
appropriate, if the aim is to stabilize climate without further global warming.
That target is consistent with an earlier analysis [54].
Additional support for that target is provided by our analyses of ongoing
climate change and paleoclimate, in later parts of our paper. Specification now
of a CO2 target more precise than <350 ppm is difficult and
unnecessary, because of uncertain future changes of forcings including other
gases, aerosols and surface albedo. More precise assessments will become
available during the time that it takes to turn around CO2 growth
and approach the initial 350 ppm target." (James Hansen, Pushker Kharecha,
Makiko Sato, Valerie Masson-Delmotte, Frank Ackerman, David J. Beerling, Paul
J. Hearty, Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, Shi-Ling Hsu, Camille Parmesan, Johan Rockstrom,
Eelco J. Rohling, Jeffrey Sachs, Pete Smith, Konrad Steffen, Lise Van Susteren,
Karina von Schuckmann, James C. Zachos, “Assessing “dangerous climate change”:
required reduction of carbon emissions to protect young people, future
generations and Nature”, PLOS One, 8 (12), 3 December 2013: http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0081648
).

(h). Dr James Hansen et al. (2008): “If humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which
civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted, paleoclimate
evidence and ongoing climate change suggest that CO2 will need to be reduced
from its current 385 ppm to at most 350 ppm, but likely less than that.” (James Hansen et al. “Target Atmospheric CO2
: Where Should Humanity Aim?”, 2008: https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/0804/0804.1126.pdf).

James Hansen et al, (2016):“The
rapid rise of global temperature that began about 1975 continues at a mean rate
of about 0.18 °C/decade, with the current annual temperature exceeding +1.25 °C
relative to 1880–1920. Global temperature has just reached a level similar to
the mean level in the prior interglacial (Eemian) period, when sea level was
several meters higher than today, and, if it long remains at this level, slow
amplifying feedbacks will lead to greater climate change and consequences. The
growth rate of climate forcing due to human-caused greenhouse gases (GHGs)
increased over 20 % in the past decade mainly due to resurging growth of
atmospheric CH4, thus making it increasingly difficult to achieve
targets such as limiting global warming to 1.5 °C or reducing atmospheric CO2
below 350 ppm.Such targets now require "negative emissions", i.e.,
extraction of CO2 from the atmosphere. If rapid phasedown of fossil
fuel emissions begins soon, most of the necessary CO2 extraction can
take place via improved agricultural and forestry practices, including
reforestation and steps to improve soil fertility and increase its carbon
content. In this case, the magnitude and duration of global temperature
excursion above the natural range of the current interglacial (Holocene) could
be limited and irreversible climate impacts could be minimized.In contrast,
continued high fossil fuel emissions by the current generation would place a
burden on young people to undertake massive technological CO2
extraction, if they are to limit climate change. Proposed methods of extraction
such as bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) or air capture of CO2
imply minimal estimated costs of 104–570 trillion dollars this century, with
large risks and uncertain feasibility. Continued high fossil fuel emissions
unarguably sentences young people to either a massive, possibly implausible
cleanup or growing deleterious climate impacts or both, scenarios that should
provide both incentive and obligation for governments to alter energy policies
without further delay” (Hansen, J., Sato,
M., Kharecha, P., von Schuckmann, K., Beerling, D. J., Cao, J., Marcott, S.,
Masson-Delmotte, V., Prather, M. J., Rohling, E. J., Shakun, J., and Smith, P.:
Young People's Burden: Requirement of Negative CO2 Emissions, Earth
Syst. Dynam., 2016: http://www.earth-syst-dynam-discuss.net/esd-2016-42/
).

(i). James Hansen et al. (2008):“Paleoclimate
data show that climate sensitivity is ~3°C for doubled CO2,
including only fast feedback processes. Equilibrium sensitivity, including
slower surface albedo feedbacks, is ~6°C for doubled CO2 for the
range of climate states between glacial conditions and ice-free Antarctica. Decreasing CO2 was the main cause
of a cooling trend that began 50 million years ago, the planet being nearly
ice-free until CO2 fell to 450±100 ppm; barring prompt policy
changes, that critical level will be passed, in the opposite direction, within
decades. If humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which
civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted, paleoclimate
evidence and ongoing climate change suggest that CO2 will need to be
reduced from its current 385 ppm to at most 350 ppm, but likely less that. The
largest uncertainty in the target arises from possible changes of non-CO2
forcings. An initial 350 ppm CO2 target may be achievable by phasing
out coal use except where CO2 is captured and adopting agricultural
and forestry practices that sequester carbon. If the present overshoot of this
target CO2 is not brief, there is a possibility of seeding
irreversible catastrophic effects” (Hansen, J., M. Sato, P. Kharecha, D.
Beerling, R. Berner, V. Masson-Delmotte, M. Pagani, M. Raymo, D.L. Royer, and
J.C. Zachos, 2008, “Target atmospheric CO2: Where should humanity
aim?”, Open Atmos. Sci. J.,
2, 217-231, 2008; NASA , Goddard Institute
for Space Studies, Publication Abstracts, 2008: https://pubs.giss.nasa.gov/abs/ha00410c.html
).

(j). Dr James
Hansen (2009): “We already have caused atmospheric carbon
dioxide to increase from 280 to 387 ppm (parts per million). What science has
revealed in the past few years is that the safe level of carbon dioxide in the
long run is no more than 350 ppm. The optimum CO2 level to support civilization
may be less than 350 ppm, but more precise knowledge is not needed immediately
for the purpose of establishing present policies. The conclusion that CO2 must
be reduced to a level below 350 ppm was startling at first, but obvious in
retrospect. Earth's history shows that an atmospheric CO2 amount of say 450 ppm
eventually would yield dramatic changes, including sea level tens of meters
higher than today.For reference, 450 ppm yields global warming about 2°C
(3.6°F) above the preindustrial level. Such a level of atmospheric CO2 and
global warming imply that we would hand our children and grandchildren a
condition that would run out of their control, a situation that should be
unacceptable to humanity” (James Hansen, “ James Hansen on climate tipping
points. And political leadership”, Inside Climate News, 15 July 2009: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/20090715/james-hansen-climate-tipping-points-and-political-leadership
).

(k). Dr James
Hansen (JH) in conversation with Bill McKibben (350.org) (BM) (2010):
“BM: The 350.org
team has met opposition from some climate activists who demand an even lower
target for CO 2 , say 300 ppm or the preindustrial CO 2 amount, 280 ppm. Would
the preindustrial CO 2 amount be a reasonable target?

JH:
All that we can say for sure now is that the target should be “less than 350
ppm.” And that is all that is needed for policy purposes. That target tells us
that we must rapidly phase out coal emissions, leave unconventional fossil
fuels in the ground, and not go after the last drops of oil and gas. In other
words, we must move as quickly as possible to the post–fossil fuel era of clean
energies. Getting back to 350 ppm will be difficult and will take time. By the
time we get back to 350 ppm, we will know a lot more and we will be able to be
more specific about what “less than 350 ppm” means. By then we should be
measuring Earth’s energy balance very accurately. We will know whether the
planet is back in energy balance and we will be able to see whether climate is
stabilizing… Yes, global average warming is “only” about a degree, but that is
actually a lot. During the last major ice age, when New
York, Minneapolis, and Seattle were under an ice
sheet a mile thick, global average temperature was about 5 degrees colder than
it is now. The last time Earth was 2 degrees warmer so much ice melted that sea
level was about twenty-five meters (eighty feet) higher than it is today… But
remember that weather variability, which can be 10 to 20 degrees from day to
day, will always be greater than average warming. And weather variability will
become even greater in the future, as I explain in the book, if we don’t slow
down greenhouse gas emissions. If we let warming continue to the point of rapid
ice sheet collapse, all hell will break loose.” (James Hansen, “A conversation
with Bill McKibben”, Grist, 23 December 2010: http://grist.org/article/2010-12-21-a-conversation-with-bill-mckibben/
; included in a more recent paperback version of James Hansen, “Storms of My Grandchildren).

Professor
Ove Hoegh-Guldberg (leading coral scientist, ARC Centre of Excellence for
Coral Reef Studies and The University
of Queensland) re his co-authored
paper entitled “The coral reef crisis: The critical importance of <350 ppm
CO2” (2009): “We are already well above the safe levels for the
world’s coral reefs. The proposed 450ppm/2 degree target is dangerous for the
world’s corals and for the 500 million people who depend on them. We should not
go there, not only for reasons of coral reefs, but for the many other impacts
that are extremely likely. We deduce, from the
history of coral bleaching, that the safe level for coral reefs is probably
about 320 or 325ppm. From fossil air taken from ice cores we know
the world has not exceeded 300ppm for at least the last 760,000 years, so we
are already in dangerous territory. We are already way outside the limits that
mother earth has been operating within for millions of years. Then there is sea
level rise. The latest scientific consensus that the minimum sea level rise we
can expect globally is 1 m. The IPCC’s earlier estimates on this are now seen
as far too conservative. A metre of rise will displace at least 30 million
people and contaminate the underground water supplies of many coastal cities
with salt. Tens of millions of people are going to be displaced. This is not
just about corals. Big issues of food security and regional security are also
at stake, and we all need to wake up to the fact that climate change is not
simply about warm days.” It will cost less than 1 per cent of GDP growth (over
the next 50 years) to sort this problem out. In times of war individual
countries have devoted anything from 40 to 70 per cent of their GDP to the war
effort, so the effort required to cease emitting carbon is far, far smaller. It
is completely affordable, completely achievable.The consequences of not cutting
carbon emissions sharply are extremely serious for humanity. It is time all
people understood this” (Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg quoted in “Scientists
call for urgent “global cooling” to save coral reefs”, University of Queensland
News, 8 November 2009: https://www.uq.edu.au/news/article/2009/11/scientists-call-urgent-global-cooling-save-coral-reefsre J.E.N. Veron, O. Hoegh-Guldberg, T.M.
Lenton, J.M. Lough, D.O. Obura, P. Pearce-Kelly, C.R.C. Sheppard, M. Spalding,
M.G. Stafford-Smith, A.D. Rogers, “The coral reef crisis: The critical
importance of <350 ppm CO2”, Marine Pollution Bulletin 58 (2009) 1428–1436 ).

JOUGHIN.Dr Ian Joughin (a
glaciologist at the University of Washington (UW), Seattle, Washinton, USA, and
lead author of a key paper on the West Antarctica ice sheet collapse, of which
the early-stage collapse is already underway) (2014): “Abstract. Resting
atop a deep marine basin, the West Antarctic Ice Sheet has long been considered
prone to instability. Using a numerical model, we investigated the sensitivity
of Thwaites Glacier to ocean melt and whether its unstable retreat is already
under way. Our model reproduces observed losses when forced with ocean melt
comparable to estimates. Simulated losses are moderate (<0.25 mm per year at
sea level) over the 21st century but generally increase thereafter. Except
possibly for the lowest-melt scenario, the simulations indicate that
early-stage collapse has begun. Less certain is the time scale, with the onset
of rapid (>1 mm per year of sea-level rise) collapse in the different
simulations within the range of 200 to 900 years” ( Ian Joughin, Benjamin E.
Smith, Brooke Medley, “Marine ice sheet collapse potentially under way for the
Thwaites Glacier Basin West Antarctica”, Science16 May 2014, Vol. 344 no. 6185 pp. 735-738: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/344/6185/735.abstract
).

LEVICKI. Richard Levicki (climate
activist associated with Global Compliance Research Project) with Dr Joan
Russow (2009): “Submission to the Copenhagen
Conference on Climate Change: Time to be bold” …16 November 2009: “Overview.
The time for procrastination about climate change has long since passed;
the world is in a state of emergency and further inaction is gross
negligence. The actual and anticipated impacts of climate change as well as the
unintended consequences of climate change, and the short-term and long-term
effects that are known and yet to be known have all contributed to the state of
emergency. Any denial of the state of emergency is eclipsed by the moral
imperative, and legal imperative. to abide by the precautionary principle… As
stated in the precautionary principle in the United Nations Framework on
Climate Change [UNFCCC], the lack of full scientific certainty should not be
used as a reason for postponing methods to address the threat… Because of the
global urgency, there must be the political will to strive to contain the rise
in temperature to less than 1oC above the pre-industrial
levels and strict time frames must be imposed , so that overall global
emissions will begin to be reversed as of 2010. There must be a global
target of 30% below 1990 by 2015, 50% below by 2020, 75% by 2030, 85% by 2040
and 100% below by 2050, while adhering t the precautionary principle, the
differentiated responsibility principle, and the fair and just transition
principle. Under the Framework Convention, every state signatory incurred the
responsibility to conserve carbon sinks; thus the destruction of sinks,
including deforestation and the elimination of bogs must end. Most scientific
work today has become tied to the failing negotiations and is based in keeping
the risk of a rise in temperature above 2oC at about 5-40%.
The proposal submitted here by the Global Compliance Research Project is based
on trying to avoid a temperature above 1oC and returning atmosphere
CO2 back to 278 ppm in line with the obligations outlined in the UNFCCC [UN
Framework Convention on Climate Change] by 2050 and bringing risk down to a
minimum. If the dangerous level is to be avoided, emissions pathways to
eliminate CO2 must arrive at the pre-industrial level of 278 ppm at least by
2050. [Currently under consideration as a target. To succeed in being below the
dangerous 1oC, member states of the United Nations must commit to
remove between 1105 GT CO2 and 1842 GT CO2 from the atmosphere (Table 1) …]. (Joan
Russow and Richard Levicki, Global Compliance Research, “Submission to the
Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change: Time to be bold”, (16 November 2009): http://76.12.226.248/ccc/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/climate-change-statement-November-26-2009.pdf
).

MCKIBBEN.Bill McKibben (American journalist and founder of 350.org that espouses 24 October, UN Day, as
also 350 Day for international action of global warming) (23 October 2009):
“Physics and chemistry have already announced their bottom line. In the last
two years a slew of research has shown that the most carbon we can safely have
in the atmosphere is 350 parts per million - indeed, a NASA team said that
above that figure we can’t have “a planet similar to the one on which
civilization developed or to which life on earth is adapted.’’ We’re already
well past the 350 figure, at 390 parts per million, which is why Arctic sea ice
is melting, glaciers thawing, and the ocean turning steadily more acidic. To
meet the 350 goal will mean a far more aggressive approach than the one Obama
and Congress have so far taken (the bill making its way through Congress
explicitly aims for a world with 450 parts per million carbon)” (Bill McKibben,
“Mr. Obama, be tough on climate change”, The Boston Globe, 23 October 2009: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2009/10/23/mr_obama_be_tough_on_climate_change/
).

Bill McKibben (co-founder of 350.org ) (2009) :
“”The critical importance of less than 350 ppm CO2”. That’s the title of a new paper
from Australian marine scientists.“If CO2 levels are allowed to continue to
approach 450 ppm (due by 2030–2040 at the current rates at which emissions are
climbing), reefs will be in rapid and terminal decline world-wide from mass
coral bleaching, ocean acidification, and other environmental impacts
associated with climate change,” Professor Charlie Veron, Professor
Hoegh-Guldberg, Dr Janice Lough of COECRS and the Australian Institute of
Marine Science and colleagues warn in the scientific paper published in the
Marine Pollution Bulletin."CO2 emissions are turning the oceans more
acidic, causing damage to corals and all life with a carbonate skeletons or shells
and, if unchecked, potentially leading to mass extinctions of ocean life like
those of the geological past. “We are already well above the safe levels for
the world’s coral reefs. The proposed 450ppm/2 degree target is dangerous for
the world’s corals and for the 500 million people who depend on them,”
Professor Hoegh-Guldberg said. “We should not go there, not only for reasons of
coral reefs, but for the many other impacts that are extremely likely"
(Bill McKibben, “”The critical importance of less than 350 ppm CO2”, 350.org: https://350.org/critical-importance-less-350-ppm-co2/
).

MORNINGSTAR. Cory Morningstar
(Canadians for Action on Climate) with Dr Joan Russow(Global
Compliance Research Project) (2010): "Before COP15, during COP15 and POST COP15,
there has been a global 350.org campaign. At COP15, states such as Bolivia,
and the ALBA group, and some scientists and activists were calling for parts
per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide to return to 300 ppm. When people from the
350.org campaign were asked why they did not respond to the lower demands,
their response was ‘350.org is our campaign’.
However, more and more leading climate activists and leading world scientists
are advocating the necessity of returning to 300 ppm" (Joan Russow and Cory
Morningstar, "Climate change: a global imperative to return to 300
ppm", Canadians For Action on Climate Change", 9 April 2010: http://canadianclimateaction.wordpress.com/writings-2009-2010/climate-change-a-global-imperative-to-return-to-300-ppm/
).

was hosted by a state with
an Indigenous President (Bolivia’s
first Indigenous President)

was presented by a state
with a very strong position on climate change (still to this date, the state
that holds the strongest position in the world), and

produced the first
democratically written document by its members as an answer to climate
change—later to be submitted
and recognized by the United Nations (due to the State of Bolivia
representatives, no thanks to climate justice groups.)

The People’s
Agreement declaration that resulted from this conference, would come to
represent the only climate declaration ever written that could serve as an
ideological and scientific foundation to build upon; that could have possibly
(and realistically) averted, or at least mitigated, advancing climate crisis
and ecological collapse—if only it had been acted upon at that time. It was
during this conference that American 350.org co-founder, Kelly Blynn, had a
tantrum. The People’s Agreement was calling for a maximum of 300 parts per
million of carbon dioxide. When pressed (by the former Green Party Canada
leader and activist, Joan
Russow, and myself) to consider the necessity of changing the 350.org logo
(by crossing it out with an x and placing the new number/logo “300” beside it),
an irritated Blynn stated that she and her co-founders would never agree to do
so as 350.org was “the most powerful brand in the world.” For the moment, let’s
ignore the fact that “the most powerful brand in the world” aside, 350 ppm is a
death sentence for coral reefs, small island developing states, and billions of
people living along low lying coastlines. A fact disclosed in an Alliance
of Small Island States Briefing prior to COP15.[1] In the ultimate display of arrogance, it was
clearly demonstrated that 350.org’s sole purpose for attending the conference
in [Cochabamba] Bolivia was to literally undermine the host country’s official
policy position on climate change (300 ppm, 1°C limit, etc.). After
exhausting all resources to have the “brand” (numeral 350) adopted as the
official target cited in the evolving text of the draft document (350 ppm
rather than 300 ppm), their efforts were finally defeated after both Russow and
I challenged the 350.org colonial superiority at that evening’s plenary, which
was packed with Bolivian citizens. Ultimately, the pre-industrial measurement
of 280 ppm was rightfully added to the document” ( Cory
Morningstar, “The Bolivia debacle. 350: agent saboteur”, Ratville Times, 19
September 2010: https://ratical.org/ratville/350AgentSaboteur.html
; see also Counterpunch: http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/09/19/350-agent-saboteur/
and “Wrong kind of Green”: http://wrongkindofgreen.org/2014/09/18/350-agent-saboteur/.).

Cory Morningstar (2010): “The
exemplary People’s Agreementemerged
from the April 2010 World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights
of Mother Earth in Cochabamba,
Bolivia. It was
endorsed by over 35,000 representatives of civil society, indigenous peoples
and various states. During that year, the Bolivian Ambassador to the UN, Pablo
Solón, participated in numerous UN processes under the UNFCCC, and valiantly
struggled to include the conclusions of the Cochabamba People’s Agreement in the negotiating documents.

The main
conclusions of the World People’s Conference were incorporated into the
document of United Nations on Climate Change that became recognized as a
negotiation text for the 192 countries that congregated in Bonn, Germany,
during the first week of August 2010. The most important points that were
incorporated for consideration in the negotiations before Cancun
were:

1) 50% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by
developed countries for a second period of commitments in the Kyoto Protocol
years 2013 to 2017

NASHEED.Mohammed Nasheed (president
of the Maldive Islands)
and the Maldive Islands government at an
underwater Cabinet meeting (Cabinet Resolution, October 2009):
“With less than one degree of global warming, the glaciers are melting, the ice
sheets collapsing, and low-lying areas are in danger of being swamped. We must
unite in a global effort to halt further temperature rises, by slashing carbon
dioxide emissions to a safe level of 350 parts per million.’’ [33].

NASA.
NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies News Brief (2008): “Humanity
must find a path to reduced atmospheric carbon dioxide, to less than the amount
in the air today, if climate disasters are to be averted, according to a study
recently published in “Open
Atmospheric Science Journal” by a group of ten
scientists from the United States, the United Kingdom and France. They argue
that such a path is feasible, but requires a prompt moratorium on new coal use
that does not capture CO2 and phase-out of existing coal emissions
by 2030."There is a bright side to this conclusion" according to the
Goddard Institute for Space Studies' James Hansen, lead author on the study,
"by following a path that leads to a lower CO2 amount we can
alleviate a number of problems that had begun to seem inevitable, such as
increased storm intensities, expanded desertification, loss of coral reefs, and
loss of mountain glaciers that supply fresh water to hundreds of millions of
people."Atmospheric carbon dioxide is already 385 parts per million (ppm)
and it is increasing by about 2 ppm each year as a result of the burning of
fossil fuels (coal, oil, and gas), with a smaller contribution from burning of
forests. The authors use evidence of how the Earth responded to past changes of
CO2 and on-going climate changes to show that atmospheric CO2
has already entered the dangerous zone. The authors suggest that
global policies should have an initial target for atmospheric CO2 of
350 ppm. They note that the optimum CO2 level for maintaining a
planet similar to that on which civilization developed is likely to be less
than 350 ppm, but a 350 ppm target already reveals that dramatic
policy changes are needed urgently. By the time such fundamental changes are
achieved, knowledge will exist to help fine-tune the target CO2.”
(NASA , Goddard Institute for Space Studies, “Target CO2: where should Humanity
aim?”, News Brief, December 2008: https://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/briefs/hansen_13/
; see Hansen, J., Mki. Sato, P. Kharecha, D. Beerling, R. Berner, V.
Masson-Delmotte, M. Pagani, M. Raymo, D.L. Royer, and J.C. Zachos, 2008: Target atmospheric CO2:
Where should humanity aim?Open
Atmos. Sci. J. ,2, 217-231: https://pubs.giss.nasa.gov/abs/ha00410c.html
).

NATIONAL OCEANIC AND
ATMOSPHERIC ADMINSITRATION (NOAA). US Department of Commerce, National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) (10 May 2013): “On May 9, the daily mean
concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of Mauna Loa, Hawaii,
surpassed 400 parts per million (ppm) for the first time since measurements
began in 1958. Independent measurements made by both NOAA and the Scripps
Institution of Oceanography have been approaching this level during the past
week… Before the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, global average CO2
was about 280 ppm. During the last 800,000 years, CO2 fluctuated between about
180 ppm during ice ages and 280 ppm during interglacial warm periods. Today’s
rate of increase is more than 100 times faster than the increase that occurred
when the last ice age ended… The increase in the Northern Hemisphere is always
a little ahead of the Southern Hemisphere because most of the emissions driving
the CO2 increase take place in the north. Once emitted, CO2 added to the
atmosphere and oceans remains for thousands of years. Thus, climate changes
forced by CO2 depend primarily on cumulative emissions, making it progressively
more and more difficult to avoid further substantial climate change” (NOAA, “CO2
at NOAA’s Mauna Loa Observatory reaches new milestone: Tops 400 ppm”, 10 May
2103: http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/news/7074.html
).

NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL (NRDC) (in their
own words: “NRDC works to safeguard the earth—its people, its plants and
animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends.We combine the power
of more than two million members and online activists with the expertise of
some 500 scientists, lawyers, and policy advocates across the globe to ensure
the rights of all people to the air, the water, and the wild”) per writer Brian Palmer on 300 ppm CO2 (2015): “There are
other proxies out there. Paleobotanists, for example, use plant matter to
characterize the ancient atmosphere—they are almost literally reading tea
leaves. During eras of low CO2 concentration, leaves contained high numbers of
pores, called stomata, to improve gas exchange with the environment. Plants
living in high-carbon times have fewer stomata. Advocates of this approach are
working on atmospheric CO2 estimates going back hundreds of millions of years,
but the technique is still very new and the estimates feature a fairly large
range of uncertainty. (The early results suggest that the earth may have
experienced 400 ppm or higher of CO2 as recently as two
million years ago.) This is all slightly academic, of course. The
undeniable truth is that we Homo sapiens have never seen concentrations this
high. During our 200,000-or-so years on this planet, CO2 concentrations have
largely stayed
below 300 ppm, as ice cores prove. For humans, this is uncharted territory”
(Brian
Palmer, “One million, two million, three million years ago …”, NRDC, 8 May 2015:
https://www.nrdc.org/onearth/one-million-two-million-three-million-years-ago
).

ONLY ZERO CARBON.Only Zero
Carbon: “This is a website venture to make the imperative of aiming
to get the global emission of carbon dioxide to zero, general knowledge and at
the very least on the table of the UN negotiations for a new climate treaty…
The science is definite that only by stopping adding carbon to the atmosphere,
can the increase in the global temperature and ocean acidification stop. The
IPCC has stated the fact clearly in the 2007 climate change assessment.
Only zero carbon makes all the carbon dioxide science, the mitigation measures,
the economics and politics so simple. All you really have to know is that only
zero CO2 emissions is the only CO2 target there is. If we do not aim for a zero
carbon world we will have no world. We hear of low carbon but how low is low to
escape global climate catastrophe? We hardly ever hear of no carbon, and zero
carbon emissions is not on the climate change mitigation agenda. The 2C target
is certain global climate planetary catastrophe. ​​IC [editor: circa 300 ppm
CO2] is the danger limit and we can achieve the 1C limit, but only with
emergency drastic action starting now.” (Only Zero Carbon: http://www.onlyzerocarbon.org/about.html
).

OXFAM AUSTRALIA.Oxfam Australia
(2011): “Current scientific understanding of the climate system indicates
that global temperature rise must be limited to as far below 1.5°C as possible
(relative to pre-industrial times) and greenhouse gases stabilised at less than
350 ppm CO2 (or 400ppm CO2-equivalents) in order to avoid more extreme
impacts and minimise risks of passing tipping points. Global emissions of
greenhouse gases must therefore be cut by at least 42% below 1990 levels by
2020 and reach net-zero by 2050… Applying a rights-based approach, Oxfam
Australia calls for immediate action and cooperation at global, regional and
local levels, in order to keep global temperature rise as far below 1.5°
Celsius as possible (above pre-industrial levels) in order to minimise the
impacts of climate change on the lives and livelihoods of poor people around
the world. As part of this developing countries and their poor must be
supported in their moving to a low carbon economy” (Oxfam Australia, “Policy of the board -
climate change, development and social justice ”, 2011: https://www.oxfam.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/oaus-positionpolicies-0312.pdf
.

PALMER.Brian Palmer of the Natural Resources Defence Council
(NRDC) (in their own words: “NRDC works to safeguard the earth—its
people, its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life
depends. We combine the power of more than two million members and online
activists with the expertise of some 500 scientists, lawyers, and policy
advocates across the globe to ensure the rights of all people to the air, the
water, and the wild”) on 300 ppm CO2
(2015): “There are other proxies out there. Paleobotanists, for example,
use plant matter to characterize the ancient atmosphere—they are almost
literally reading tea leaves. During eras of low CO2 concentration, leaves
contained high numbers of pores, called stomata, to improve gas exchange with
the environment. Plants living in high-carbon times have fewer stomata.
Advocates of this approach are working on atmospheric CO2 estimates going back
hundreds of millions of years, but the technique is still very new and the
estimates feature a fairly large range of uncertainty. (The early results
suggest that the earth may have experienced 400 ppm or higher of CO2 as
recently as two
million years ago.) This is all slightly academic, of course. The
undeniable truth is that we Homo sapiens have never seen concentrations this
high. During our 200,000-or-so years on this planet, CO2 concentrations have
largely stayed
below 300 ppm, as ice cores prove. For humans, this is uncharted territory”
(Brian
Palmer, “One million, two million, three million years ago …”, NRDC, 8 May 2015:
https://www.nrdc.org/onearth/one-million-two-million-three-million-years-ago
).

Top climate scientists and the prestigious UK Royal Society say we must
DECREASE atmospheric CO2 concentration from the present 390 ppm to 300-350 ppm
ASAP for a safe planet for all peoples and all species. [1a, 2a].

Unfortunately, world governments and the pro-coal Australian
Liberal-National Party Coalition Opposition and the pro-coal Australian Labor
Federal Government (aka the Lib-Labs) want to INCREASE CO2 and other greenhouse
gas (GHG) pollution. [3a].

Australia
is a world leader in per capita GHG pollution – having 0.3% of world
population, its domestic and exported GHG pollution is 3% of world total. Yet
optimistic interpretation of official Labor policy indicates that Australia’s
domestic and exported GHG pollution will be 119% of the 2000 value by 2020 and
173% by 2050. [4a].

The science-ignoring Australian Lib-Labs (US Rep-Dems) are betraying our
children, the Great Barrier Reef, Australia, Humanity and the
Biosphere of the Planet. Children should demand that their elders behave
responsibly before it is too late and First World-imposed climate genocide
destroys 10 billion non-Europeans this century, mostly children.". [5a, 6a].

RIGNOT. Dr Eric Rignot, a glaciologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
and lead author of a 2014 landmark scientific paper on West Antarctica
revealing that the collapse of a large part of Antarctica is now unstoppable
(2014): “Controlling climate warming may ultimately make a difference not
only about how fast West Antarctic ice will melt to sea, but also whether other
parts of Antarctica will take their turn. Several "candidates" are
lined up, and we seem to have figured a way to push them out of equilibrium
even before warming of air temperature is strong enough to melt snow and ice at
the surface. Unabated climate warming of several degrees over the next century
is likely to speed up the collapse of West Antarctica, but it could also
trigger irreversible retreat of marine-based sectors of East
Antarctica. Whether we should do something about it is simply a
matter of common sense. And the time to act is now; Antarctica is not waiting
for us” (Eric Rignot, “Global warming: it’s a point of no return in West Antarctica. What happens next?”, The Observer, 18
May 2014: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/17/climate-change-antarctica-glaciers-melting-global-warming-nasa
; see alsoThomas
Sumner, “West Antarctic ice sheet is collapsing”, Science Now, 12 May 2014: http://news.sciencemag.org/climate/2014/05/west-antarctic-ice-sheet-collapsing
; E. Rignot, J. Mouginot, M. Morlighem, H. Seroussi and B. Scheuchl,
“Widespread, rapid grounding line retreat of Pine Island, Thwaites, Smith and
Kohler glacier, West Antarctica from 1992 to 2011”, Geophysical Research
Letters, 2014: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2014GL060140/abstract
; Ian Joughin, Benjamin E. Smith, Brooke Medley, “Marine ice sheet collapse
potentially under way for the Thwaites Glacier Basin West Antarctica”, Science16 May 2014, Vol.
344 no. 6185 pp. 735-738: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/344/6185/735.abstract
; Dr Richard Alley quoted in Thomas Sumner, “West Antarctic ice sheet is
collapsing”, Science Now, 12 May 2014: http://news.sciencemag.org/climate/2014/05/west-antarctic-ice-sheet-collapsing
).

ROYAL SOCIETY.Royal Society technical
working group on coral (6th July 2009): "The Earth’s atmospheric CO2
level must be returned to less than 350ppm to reverse this
escalating ecological crisis and to 320ppm to ensure permanent planetary
health. Actions to achieve this must be taken urgently. The
commonly mooted best case target of 450ppm and a time frame reaching to 2050
will plunge the Earth into an environmental state that has not occurred in
millions of years and from which there will be no recovery for coral reefs and
for many other natural systems on which humanity depends. Working group
signatories Professor John Veron (Coral Reef Research), Dr Mary Stafford-Smith
(Coral Reef Research),Prof. Ove Hoegh-Guldberg (University of
Queensland) [and 20 other eminent scientists]" (Output of the technical
working group meeting, The Royal Society, London, 6th July, 2009, “The Coral
Reef Crisis: scientific justification for critical CO2 threshold
levels of less than 350ppm”: http://static.zsl.org/files/statement-of-the-coral-reef-crisis-working-group-890.pdf).

The Royal Society,
the Zoological Society of London and the International Programme on the State
of the Ocean Coral Reef Crisis Meeting (2009): “On the 6th July, 2009, the Royal Society, the Zoological
Society of London and the International Programme on the State of the Ocean
facilitated a Coral Reef Crisis meeting to identify key thresholds of
atmospheric carbon dioxide needed for coral reefs to remain viable.… To ensure the long‐term
viability of coral reefs the atmospheric CO2 level must be reduced
significantly below 350 parts per million (ppm). In addition to major
reductions in CO2 emissions, achieving this safe level will require the active removal of CO2 from the
atmosphere” (The “Coral Reef Crisis:
scientific justification for critical CO2 threshold levels of <350ppm”, Output of the Coral Reef Crisis Working Group Meeting, The
Royal Society, London, 6th July
2009: http://www.aquarium-portedoree.fr/sites/aquarium-portedoree.fr/files/veron_blanchissement.pdf
).

RUSSOW. Dr Joan Russow (Global Compliance Research
Project) and Cory Morningstar
(Canadians for Action on Climate) (2010): (a) "Before COP15,
during COP15 and POST COP15, there has been a global 350.org campaign. At
COP15, states such as Bolivia,
and the ALBA group, and some scientists and activists were calling for parts
per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide to return to 300 ppm. When people from the
350.org campaign were asked why they did not respond to the lower demands,
their response was ‘350.org is our campaign’.
However, more and more leading climate activists and leading world scientists
are advocating the necessity of returning to 300 ppm" (Joan Russow and Cory
Morningstar, "Climate change: a global imperative to return to 300
ppm", Canadians For Action on Climate Change", 9 April 2010: http://canadianclimateaction.wordpress.com/writings-2009-2010/climate-change-a-global-imperative-to-return-to-300-ppm/
).

(b) Dr Joan Russow with
Richard Levicki (climate activist associated with Global Compliance Research
Project) (2009): “Submission to the Copenhagen Conference on Climate
Change: Time to be bold” …16 November 2009: “Overview. The time for
procrastination about climate change has long since passed; the world is in a
state of emergency and further inaction is gross negligence. The actual
and anticipated impacts of climate change as well as the unintended
consequences of climate change, and the short-term and long-term effects that
are known and yet to be known have all contributed to the state of emergency.
Any denial of the state of emergency is eclipsed by the moral imperative, and
legal imperative. to abide by the precautionary principle… As stated in the
precautionary principle in the United Nations Framework on Climate Change
[UNFCCC], the lack of full scientific certainty should not be used as a reason
for postponing methods to address the threat… Because of the global urgency,
there must be the political will to strive to contain the rise in temperature
to less than 1oC above the pre-industrial levels and strict
time frames must be imposed , so that overall global emissions will begin to
be reversed as of 2010. There must be a global target of 30% below 1990
by 2015, 50% below by 2020, 75% by 2030, 85% by 2040 and 100% below by 2050,
while adhering t the precautionary principle, the differentiated responsibility
principle, and the fair and just transition principle. Under the Framework
Convention, every state signatory incurred the responsibility to conserve
carbon sinks; thus the destruction of sinks, including deforestation and the
elimination of bogs must end. Most scientific work today has become tied to the
failing negotiations and is based in keeping the risk of a rise in
temperature above 2oC at about 5-40%. The proposal submitted here by
the Global Compliance Research Project is based on trying to avoid a
temperature above 1oC and returning atmosphere CO2 back to 278 ppm
in line with the obligations outlined in the UNFCCC [UN Framework Convention on
Climate Change] by 2050 and bringing risk down to a minimum. If the dangerous
level is to be avoided, emissions pathways to eliminate CO2 must arrive at the
pre-industrial level of 278 ppm at least by 2050. [Currently under
consideration as a target. To succeed in being below the dangerous 1oC,
member states of the United Nations must commit to remove between 1105 GT CO2
and 1842 GT CO2 from the atmosphere (Table 1) …] (Joan Russow and Richard
Levicki, Global Compliance Research, “Submission to the Copenhagen Conference
on Climate Change: Time to be bold”, (16 November 2009): http://76.12.226.248/ccc/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/climate-change-statement-November-26-2009.pdf
).

SAKASHITA.Miyoko Sakashita and Shaye Wolf (Center for Biological Diversity, San
Francisco, California) (2009):“Given the documented detrimental
impacts to corals at the current atmospheric CO2 concentration of ~387 ppm CO2,
the best-available science indicates that atmospheric CO2 concentrations must
be reduced to at most 350 ppm, and perhaps much lower (300-325 ppm CO2), to
adequately reduce the synergistic threats of ocean warming, ocean
acidification, and other impacts (Veron et al. 2009; Donner 2009; Hansen et al.
2008; Hoegh-Guldberg et al. 2007; McMullen and Jabbour 2009). Clearly,
immediate action is needed to reduce greenhouse gas concentrations to levels
that do not jeopardize the petitioned coral species… Conclusion. As
demonstrated in this Petition, each of the 83 petitioned coral species faces
threats to its continued existence. NMFS must promptly make a positive 90-day
finding on this Petition, initiate a status review, and expeditiously proceed
toward listing and protecting these species. We look forward to the official
response as required by the ESA” ( Miyoko Sakashita and Shaye Wolf
(Center for Biological Diversity, San
Francisco, California),
“Before the Secretary of Commerce. Petition to list 83 coral species under the
Endangered Species Act”, ”, 20 October 2009: http://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/pr/species/petitions/83_corals_petition_2009.pdf
).

SCHELLNHUBER. Professor Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, director of the
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research., Germany (2008): “"It is
a compromise between ambition and feasibility. A rise of 2oC could
avoid some of the big environmental disasters, but it is still only a
compromise…It is a very sweeping argument, but nobody can say for sure that
330ppm is safe. Perhaps it will not matter whether we have 270ppm or 320ppm,
but operating well outside the [historic] realm of carbon dioxide
concentrations is risky as long as we have not fully understood the relevant
feedback mechanisms" [280 ppm is the pre-industrial atmospheric CO2 concentration]
(Professor Hans Joachim Schellnhuber quoted by David Adam, “Roll back time t
safeguard climate, expert warns”, Guardian, 15 September 2008 : http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/sep/15/climatechange.carbonemissions
).

SPRATT. David Spratt (leading
Australian climate change analyst and activist on the website called “Climate
Code Red”, the title of a key book by David Spratt and Phillip Sutton) (2009):
“The central point is that Arctic sea-ice is undergoing dramatic loss in
summer, having lost 70-80% of its volume in the last 50 years, most since 2000.
Without summer sea-ice, Greenland cannot
escape a trajectory of ice-sheet loss leading to an eventual sea-level rise of
7 metres. Regional temperatures in the Arctic autumn are already up about 5C,
and by mid-century an Arctic ice-free in summer, combined with more global warming,
will be pushing Siberia close to the point where large-scale loss of carbon
from melting permafrost would make further mitigation efforts futile. As Hansen
told the US
Congress in testimony last year, the “elements of a perfect storm, a global
cataclysm, are assembled”. In short, if you don’t have a target that aims to
cool the planet sufficiently to get the sea-ice back, the climate system may
spiral out of control, past many “tipping points” to the final “point of no
return”. And that target is not 350ppm, it’s around 300 ppm. Hansen says Arctic
sea-ice passed its tipping point decades ago, and in his presentations has also
specifically identified 300-325ppm as the target range for sea-ice" (David
Spratt, “350 is the wrong target: put the science first”, Climate Code Red
website, 22 January 2009: http://www.climatecodered.org/2009_01_01_archive.html
).

STEFFEN. Professor Will Steffen (an
American chemist, executive director of
the Australian National University Climate Change Institute and a member of the
Australian Climate Commission until its abolition by the climate change sceptic
Australian Coalition Government in
September 2013) in a paper with numerous
other top scholars in the top scientific journal Nature saying that atmospheric CO2 must not exceed 350 ppm
(September 2009): "Our proposed climate boundary is based on two
critical thresholds that separate qualitatively different climate-system
states. It has two parameters: atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide and
radiative forcing (the rate of energy change per unit area of the globe as
measured at the top of the atmosphere). We propose that human changes to
atmospheric CO2 concentrations should not exceed 350 parts per
million by volume, and that radiative forcing should not exceed 1 watt per square
metre above pre-industrial levels. Transgressing these boundaries will increase
the risk of irreversible climate change, such as the loss of major ice sheets,
accelerated sea-level rise and abrupt shifts in forest and agricultural
systems. Current CO2 concentration stands at 387 p.p.m.v. and the
change in radiative forcing is 1.5 W m-2 “ (Johan Rockström, Will Steffen, Kevin Noone,
Åsa Persson, F. Stuart Chapin, III, Eric F. Lambin, Timothy M. Lenton, Marten
Scheffer, Carl Folke, Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Björn Nykvist, Cynthia A. de
Wit, Terry Hughes, Sander van der Leeuw, Henning Rodhe, Sverker Sörlin, Peter
K. Snyder, Robert Costanza, Uno Svedin, Malin Falkenmark, Louise Karlberg,
Robert W. Corell, Victoria J. Fabry, James Hansen, Brian Walker, Diana
Liverman, Katherine Richardson, Paul Crutzen & Jonathan A. Foley, “A safe operating space for
humanity”, Nature, 461, 472-475, 2009: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v461/n7263/full/461472a.html
).

STERN.Sir Nicholas Stern (top climate economist, IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government at
the London School of Economics, former Chief Economist and Senior
Vice-President of the World Bank from 2000 to 2003) (September 2009):
“[Re 350 ppm CO2] I think it’s a very sensible long-term target…People
have to be aware that is a truly long-term target. We have already passed
350ppm, we are at 390 ppm of CO2 and at 435 ppm of CO2-equivalents right now.
It is most important to stop the increase of flows of emissions short term and
then start the decline of flows of annual emissions and get them down to levels
which will move concentrations of CO2 back down towards 350ppm.” (Simon
Leufstedt, “Nicholas Stern endorses 350 ppm as “a very sensible long-term
target””, Green Blog, 12 September 2009: http://www.green-blog.org/2009/09/12/nicholas-stern-endorses-350-ppm-as-a-very-sensible-long-term-target/
).

SUMNER. Thomas Sumner in
Science Now (AAAS) on the slow collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet (2014):
“A disaster may be unfolding—in slow motion. Earlier this week, two teams of
scientists reported that the Thwaites Glacier, a keystone holding the massive
West Antarctic Ice Sheet together, is starting to collapse. In the long run,
they say, the entire ice sheet is doomed, which would release enough meltwater
to raise sea levels by more than 3 meters. One team combined data on the recent
retreat of the 182,000-square-kilometer Thwaites Glacier with a model of the
glacier’s dynamics to forecast its future. In a
paper published online today in Science, they report that in as few
as 2 centuries Thwaites Glacier’s outermost edge will recede past an underwater
ridge now stalling its retreat. Their modeling suggests that the glacier will
then cascade into rapid collapse. The second team, writing in Geophysical Research Letters (GRL),
describes recent radar mapping of West Antarctica’s
glaciers and confirms that the 600-meter-deep ridge is the final obstacle
before the bedrock underlying the glacier dips into a deep basin. Because
inland basins connect Thwaites Glacier to other major glaciers in the region,
both research teams say its collapse would flood West
Antarctica with seawater, prompting a near-complete loss of ice in
the area... Core samples drilled into
the inland basins that connect Thwaites Glacier with its neighbors have
revealed algae preserved beneath the ice sheet, a hint that seawater has filled
the basins within the past 750,000 years. That past flooding shows that
modest climate warming can cause the entire ice sheet to collapse” (Thomas
Sumner, “West Antarctic ice sheet is collapsing”, Science Now, 12 May 2014: http://news.sciencemag.org/climate/2014/05/west-antarctic-ice-sheet-collapsing
).

SUTTON.Phillip Sutton (co-author with David Spratt of “Climate Code
Red” and Manager and Strategist of Research and Strategist for Transition
Initiation (RSTI) ) (2015): “We stand at a crossroads. The old climate
goals are dangerously deficient. What should we be going for instead? Humanity
has made a mistake in creating climate conditions beyond the safe zone of the
Holocene epoch (i.e. the relatively stable climate of the last 10,000 years).
We need to fully correct that mistake, rather than just curtailing its
magnitude. Our climate and earth system goals need to be designed to restore
optimal conditions – to approximately those of the pre-fossil fuel era. Key
climate/earth system parameters that need to be restored to safe levels are:

• ocean heat content

• global surface temperature

• ocean acidity

• sea level.

To prevent massive disruption to coastal areas, the global average surface
temperatures and the ocean temperatures need to be lowered to maintain a stable
sea level at the height experienced over the last two thousand years. This
implies that the average global temperature needs to be reduced to well below
the present level – perhaps reversing as much as the full warming experienced
in the last 100 years. To restore the ocean acidity to safe levels, the
atmospheric CO2 level needs to be cut substantially. To deal with both global warming and ocean acidity issues, it is possible
that the atmospheric CO2 level needs to be restored to somewhere between 280
ppm and 300 ppm. To prevent severe climate and ocean acidification
impacts expected by 2030, net global greenhouse gas emissions should reach zero
and temperatures start to fall before then” (page 2, Phillip Sutton, “Striking
Targets. Matching climate goals with climate reality”, Breakthrough (National
Centre for Climate Restoration), Melbourne,
2015: http://media.wix.com/ugd/148cb0_2cec8c5928864748809e26a2b028d08c.pdf
).

TARGET 300.“Target 300” (that advocates a return to 300 ppm CO2
ASAP): “James Hansen, is the director of the NASA Goddard Institute for
Space Studies and Adjunct Professor at the Columbia University Earth Institute.
He is one of the worlds leading climate scientists. Hansen has recently
released a paper titled "Target Atmospheric CO2: Where Should Humanity
Aim?" In this paper he concludes that we need to return atmospheric
concentrations to between 300-325 ppm CO2 to re-establish summer sea ice in the
North Pole. The North Pole summer sea ice is just one of a number of critical
climate systems that are needed to maintain a stable safe climate. Without it,
other systems, including the Greenland ice
mass and the frozen methane trapped in Arctic permafrost, will respond to
global warming and add greatly to the problem by creating destructive sea level
rise and massive release of additional greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. We
don't know exactly where safe CO2 levels lie within the 300-325 ppm CO2 range
so if we wish to avoid a climate catastrophe, we must aim for 300 ppm CO2 or
below. Hansen has said we have at most decades to return our atmospheric
greenhouse gas levels to safe levels” (. Target 300: http://target300.org/1introduction.html
).

VERON, John E.N. "Charlie". Dr J.E.N. "Charlie" Veron: 320-350 ppm CO2 for coral reef safetyProfessor John E.N. “Charlie” Veron is a world authority on coral (he has discovered
and described about 1/3 of coral species), He is an marine researcher, former chief scientist of
the Australian Institute of Marine Science and author with Dr Mary Stafford-Smith
(also of Coral Reef Research) of “Corals of the World. Reef building corals
worldwide” (see: http://www.nhbs.com/corals_of_the_world_tefno_98887.html
).

(a) Professor John E.N. "Charlie" Veron, “Is the Great Barrier Reef on Death Row?”, powerpoint lecture, joint
event of the Royal Society with the Zoological Society of London and
introduced by Sir David Attenborough FRS, 6 July 2009: “450 ppm [CO2] will
bring on the demise of the GBR [Great Barrier Reef] …320-350 [ppm CO2 needed]”
and

“CO2 in Summary.

320 ppm: occasional [coral] bleaching

345 ppm: sporadic mass bleaching

387 ppm: inevitable long-term decline

450 ppm: rapid decline, reefs cease to be biodiverse

600 ppm: acidification affecting all biota

800 ppm: mid-Eocene extinction comnditions

1000 ppm: reefs only geological structures. Sixth Mass Extinction” ( Professor John E.N. "Charlie" Veron, “Is the Great
Barrier Reef on Death Row?”, joint event of the Royal Society with the
Zoological Society of London and introduced by Sir David Attenborough
FRS, 06 July 2009, powerpoint lecture, 61 minutes: http://royalsociety.org/page.asp?id=3093# ; Coral Reef Crisis Meeting, 6th July 2009, with powerpoint lecture by Dr John
"Charlie" Veron as introduced by Sir David Attenborough, Coral
Reef Research: http://www.coralreefresearch.org/html/crr_rs.htm
) .

(b) Professor John
Veron (Coral Reef Research), co-signatory to the statement by the technical working group on coral, The Royal
Society on 6th July 2009: "The Earth’s atmospheric CO2 level
must be returned to <350ppm to reverse this escalating ecological
crisis and to 320ppm to ensure permanent planetary health. Actions to achieve
this must be taken urgently. The commonly mooted best case
target of 450ppm and a time frame reaching to 2050 will plunge the Earth into
an environmental state that has not occurred in millions of years and from
which there will be no recovery for coral reefs and for many other natural
systems on which humanity depends. Working group signatories Professor John
Veron (Coral Reef Research) Dr Mary Stafford-Smith (Coral Reef Research), Prof.
Ove Hoegh-Guldberg (University
of Queensland) ]and 20 other eminent scientists including Sir David Attenborough FRS (working group
co-chair) (Output of the technical working group meeting,
The Royal Society, London,
6th July, 2009, “The Coral Reef Crisis: scientific justification for critical
CO2 threshold levels of <350ppm”: http://www.carbonequity.info/PDFs/The-Coral-Reef-Crisis.pdf )

(e) Dr J.E.N. Veron and 9 coral scientist colleagues (2009):“The
coral reef crisis: The critical importance of <350 ppm CO2” [rounded down, less than 350 ppm CO2 is about 300 ppm CO2]. Report: “Australian marine scientists have
issued an urgent call for massive and rapid worldwide cuts in carbon emissions,
deep enough to prevent atmospheric CO2 levels rising to 450 parts per million
(ppm). In the lead up to United Nations Copenhagen Climate Change Conference
Professors Charlie Veron (former Chief Scientist, Australian Institute of
Marine Science) and Ove Hoegh-Guldberg of the ARC Centre of Excellence for
Coral Reef Studies and The University of Queensland, have urged the world’s
leaders to adopt a maximum global emission target of 325 parts per million
(ppm). This will be essential, they say, to save coral reefs worldwide from a
catastrophic decline which threatens the livelihoods of an estimated 500
million people globally.This is substantially lower than today’s atmospheric
levels of 387 ppm, and far below the 450ppm limit envisaged by most governments
attending Copenhagen as necessary to restrain global warming to a 2 degree
rise, on average” (J.E.N. Veron, O. Hoegh-Guldberg, T.M. Lenton, J.M. Lough,
D.O. Obura, P. Pearce-Kelly, C.R.C. Sheppard, M. Spalding, M.G. Stafford-Smith,
A.D. Rogers, “The coral reef crisis: The critical importance of <350 ppm
CO2”, Marine Pollution Bulletin 58 (2009) 1428–1436; “Scientists call for urgent
“global cooling” to save coral reefs”, University of Queensland News, 8 November
2009: https://www.uq.edu.au/news/article/2009/11/scientists-call-urgent-global-cooling-save-coral-reefs).

WIKIPEDIA.Wikipedia: “’Over the past 400,000 years,
CO2 concentrations have shown several cycles of variation from about
180 parts per million during the deep glaciations of the Holocene and
Pleistocene to 280 parts per million during the interglacial periods. Following
the start of the Industrial Revolution, atmospheric CO2 concentration has
increased to 400 parts per million and continues to increase. This has caused
the phenomenon of global warming which is mostly attributed to human CO2 emissions”
(Wikipedia, “Carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxide_in_Earth's_atmosphere
).

WOLF.Shaye Wolf and Miyoko Sakashita (Center for Biological Diversity, San
Francisco, California) (2009):“Given the documented detrimental
impacts to corals at the current atmospheric CO2 concentration of ~387 ppm CO2,
the best-available science indicates that atmospheric CO2 concentrations must
be reduced to at most 350 ppm, and perhaps much lower (300-325 ppm CO2), to
adequately reduce the synergistic threats of ocean warming, ocean
acidification, and other impacts (Veron et al. 2009; Donner 2009; Hansen et al.
2008; Hoegh-Guldberg et al. 2007; McMullen and Jabbour 2009). Clearly,
immediate action is needed to reduce greenhouse gas concentrations to levels
that do not jeopardize the petitioned coral species… Conclusion. As
demonstrated in this Petition, each of the 83 petitioned coral species faces
threats to its continued existence. NMFS must promptly make a positive 90-day
finding on this Petition, initiate a status review, and expeditiously proceed
toward listing and protecting these species. We look forward to the official
response as required by the ESA” ( Miyoko Sakashita and Shaye Wolf
(Center for Biological Diversity, San
Francisco, California),
“Before the Secretary of Commerce. Petition to list 83 coral species under the
Endangered Species Act”, ”, 20 October 2009: http://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/pr/species/petitions/83_corals_petition_2009.pdf
).

WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION (WMO). The World Meteorological
Organization (WMO; the United Nations System’s authoritative voice on Weather,
Climate and Water) . It is very likely that 2016 will be
the hottest year on record, with global temperatures even higher than the
record-breaking temperatures in 2015. Preliminary data shows that 2016’s global
temperatures are approximately 1.2° Celsius above pre-industrial levels,
according to an assessment by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO)… According
to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), in 2015 there were 19.2
million new displacements associated with weather, water, climate and
geophysical hazards in 113 countries, more than twice as many as for conflict
and violence. Of these, weather-related hazards triggered 14.7 million
displacements. South and East Asia dominated
in terms of the highest absolute figures, but no region of the world was
unaffected. Equivalent data for 2016 are not yet available. Extreme weather and
climate related events influenced by the strong El-Niño in 2015/2016 had
significant negative impacts on agriculture and food security. More than 60
million people around the world were affected by these events, according to the
Food and Agriculture Organization” (WMO, “Provisional WMO statement on the status
of the global climate in 2016”, WMO, 14 November2016: https://public.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/provisional-wmo-statement-status-of-global-climate-2016
) [Editor note: according to geophysicist Dr Geoff Davies: “prominent climate scientist
James Hansen and his colleague Makiko Sato argue that the Earth is now at least
as warm as it was between earlier ice ages [interglacial 280 ppm CO2] , and
further warming by even one degree celsius could result in sea level rising by
anything from 5 to 25 meters, with perhaps 5 meters rise by the end of this
century” - Geoff Davies, “Global warming
danger: catastrophic?”, On-line Opinion, 8 February 2011: http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=11588].

WRONG KIND OF GREEN. Wrong
Kind of Green (post by “Greenhearted”) (2010): “Now, you remember that Upton
Sinclair quote from An Inconvenient Truth? “It’s difficult to get a man to
understand something if his salary depends upon his not understanding it”?
Well, there are lots of people now so tied into this campaign that promotes
getting down to between 349 and 351 ppm that they cannot conceive of — and
refused here at this conference to support — setting an even lower target of
300 ppm, which is part of the official position of Bolivia. Imagine coming all
the way to Bolivia and not supporting Bolivia’s position, which is the only one
backed by the science and the only one presented to date that has any hope of
safeguarding our future — and refusing to back it simply because your campaign
is already in place. What a betrayal! What a lack of compassion for those who
are going to be devastated first by climate catastrophe! This admittedly highly
successful social media campaign has become such a brand that its proponents
are not willing to let it go. They are willing to sell out future generations
so that they don’t have to use their imaginations and creativity to “rebrand”
their brand and start calling for 300 ppm (or even pre-industrial levels of
carbon dioxide: 278 ppm). It was a lesson for me in the importance of being
open to what’s right, instead of what’s easy. Which I suppose is what our whole
climate change fight is all about!” (Wrong
Kind of Green, “A cautionary tale – debriefing the Bolivia Climate Conference,
25 April 2010: http://www.wrongkindofgreen.org/tag/300-ppm/
).